UN  VERS  TY  OF  CALIFORNIA   SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822017193749 


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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO       . 


31822017193749 


MORALE 

THE  SUPREME  STANDARD 
OF    LIFE    AND    CONDUCT 


By 
G.  STANLEY  HALL 

Morale 
Adolescence 

Youth 
Educational  Problems 

Founders  of  Modern 
Psychology 

These  Are  Appleton  Books 

D.   APPLETON   &   COMPANY 

Publishers  New  York 


T  241 


MORALE 

THE  SUPREME  STANDARD 
OF    LIFE    AND    CONDUCT 


BY 

G.  STANLEY  HALL,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

PRESIDENT    OF    CLARK    UNIVERSITY 

Author  of  "  Adolescence,"  "  Founders  of  Modern 
Psychology,"  etc. 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

MCMXX 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  TH»  ONITBD   STATES   OF  AMERICA 


[PREFACE 

The  first  draft  of  nearly  half  this  present  volume 
was  printed  in  the  Psychological  Bulletin  (Vol.  XV, 
!No.  11).  This  part  was  somewhat  radically  revised, 
and  the  substance  of  the  volume  as  it  now  stands  was 
given  in  weekly  lectures  in  Clark  University  during 
the  year  1918-19. 

I  hope  that  this  concise  survey  of  these  very 
diverse  fields  may  be  considered  as  a  plea  for  a  new 
and  more  inclusive  standard  of  the  evaluation  of 
not  only  individuals  but  of  human  organizations,  and 
I  would  fain  nope  it  may  be  worthy  of  a  place  as  a 
textbook  in  some  of  our  higher  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, perhaps  in  place  of  the  types  of  ethics  now  in 
use.  Our  ideals  of  conscience,  honor,  and  morals 
generally  have  not  accomplished  all  we  have  hoped 
for.  Why  not  try  the  standard  of  Morale  here  sug- 
gested as  more  fitting  for  the  conditions  of  modern 
life? 

I  have  been  much  aided  in  this  work  by  the 
Librarian  of  the  University,  Dr.  Louis  N.  Wilson, 
who  has  collected  for  our  Library  some  7,700  books 
and  pamphlets  on  the  war,  besides  2,200  not  yet 
catalogued,  312  serials  which  are  not  complete,  253 

v 


2049430 


PKEFACE 


maps,  6,200  posters,  and  3,400  pictures.  I  am  also 
indebted  to  Miss  Helen  G.  Elliot,  who  has  this  col- 
lection in  charge;  and  last  but  not  least  to  my  secre- 
tary, Miss  Mary  M.  McLoughlin,  who  has  typed  and 
read  the  proof  of  the  entire  volume  and  has  other- 
wise been  of  great  service.  G.  STANLEY  HALL 

CLARK   UNIVERSITY 


Vl 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 
CHAPTER      PREFACE      V 

I.    MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 1 

Comparison  of  morale  as  the  modern  standard  with 
the  standards  of  (I)  Conscience,  (II)  Honor,  (III) 
the  Superman,    (IV)    Morale. 

II.    MORALE,   PATRIOTISM  AND   HEALTH 22 

Our  present  problem  of  morale  in  general  and  espe- 
cially in  this  country — Its  peculiar  difficulties  here — 
Its  relations  to  health. 

III.  THE  MORALE  OF  FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 35 

I.  Morale  and  the  pss'chology  of  fear  in  war — The 
methods  of  its  conquest — II.  Morale  and  death — The 
various  attitudes  of  different  types  of  soldiers  to 
death — Burials,  graveyards,  and  monuments — Spirit- 
ism— III.  Anger  in  life,  in  literature,  and  its  place  in 
the  present  war. 

IV.  MORALE   AND    DIVERSIONS 70 

I.  Humor,  wit  and  fun — Its  compensatory  value  for 
morale — II.  Music  aft  the  organ  of  affectivity — Its 
development  in  this  country,  France,  England,  and 
Germany — War  poetry — III.  The  soldier's  reading. 
V.  THE  MORALE  OF  PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS, 

AND   WAR   MUSEUMS 86 

I.  The  origin  of  pictures  and  posters  and  their  func- 
tions in  this  war — II.  Medals  and  other  insigna  of 
honor  in  the  different  countries — III.  Museums  and 
collections  of  various  kinds  in  different  lands  of 
mementoes  of  the  war. 

VI.    MORALE,   SEX,  AND  WOMEN 101 

I.  Morale  and  sex  in  war — The  effects  of  war  upon 
this  instinct — Government  prophylaxis — Moralizing 
methods  in  camp — II.  What  women  have  done  and 
can  do  to  sustain  morale — Their  attitude  toward  the 
soldier. 

VII.    WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 116 

I.  The  need  of  soldiers  to  know  what  they  are  fighting 
for — II.  The  three  stages  of  news-getting  by  the 
American  press — Censorship — The  German  system  of 
espionage  and  some  methods  of  propaganda — The 
great  need  in  this  country  of  better  knowledge  of  the 
world's  events. 

vii 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

VIII.    CONSCIENTIOUS   OBJECTOBS  AND  DIVEBSITIES   o?   PA- 

TBIOTIC    IDEALS 132 

I.  The  treatment  of  objectors  in  lands  where  they  are 
recognized — Fake  objectors ;  the  proper  test  and  » 
treatment — II.  Factors  of  patriotism — Contrast  in  the 
goals  of  military  training  between  France  and 
Germany,  viz.  organization  versus  esprit — The  French 
psychology  of  the  attack. 

IX.  THE  SOLDIEB  IDEAL  AND  ITS  CONSEBVATION  IN  PEACE.  .  142 
What  is  the  ideal  soldier? — Value  of  the  details  of  his 
training — Carrying  on  the  war  in  peace — True 
Democracy — Capital  versus  Labor — America  as  the 
"big  brother"  of  the  countries  she  has  made 
democratic. 

X.    MOBALE,  TESTS,  AND  PEBSONNEL  WOBK 153 

Recent  studies  of  types  of  character — Testing  soldiers 
and  officers — The  development  of  personnel  work  in 
the  army  and  in  industry — Dangers  here  of  substitut- 
ing Kultur  for  culture  in  general  and  the  same  danger 
now  imminent  in  psychology. 

XI.    SPECIFIC  MOBALE  FOB  THE  ARMY 173 

Outline  of  the  Munson  memorandum — Characteriza- 
tion of  the  methods  of  developing  morale  in  Camp 
Greenleaf — Lessons  of  this  work. 

XII.    MOBALE  AND  REHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED 188 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  maimed  soldier  and  how  it 
has  been  met — The  marvelous  work  of  the  surgeon — 
The  persuader — What  is  done  in  the  various  countries 
to  restore  the  soldier  to  efficiency  and  settle  him  in  a 
vocation — Success  here  second  to  no  other  triumph  of 
morale 

XIII.    THE  LABOB  PBOBLEM: 201 

The  necessity  of  studying  and  realizing  the  funda- 
mental needs  of  labor  everywhere  for  food,  domestic 
life,  ownership,  recreation,  work,  intellectual  activity, 
and  association  with  fellow-men — The  power  of  labor 
to  reconstruct  the  world  not  realized  by  capital. 

XIV.  MOBALE  AND  PROHIBITION 219 

The  suddenness  and  extent  of  prohibition  as  one  cause 
of  world  unrest— Comparisons  with  the  effects  of 
hunger — The  rOle  of  food  shortage  in  the  development 
of  the  race — Labor  meetings  as  a  substitute  for  the 
saloon — Projection  of  alimentary  diseasement  and  the 
need  of  stimulation  outward 

XV.  MOBALE   AND   PBOFITEEBINQ 230 

War  always  followed  by  a  period  of  greed — Its 
camouflages — The  cures  of  (a)  publicity;  (b)  ridicule; 
(c)  portrayals  of  the  simple  life ;  (d)  morale  and 
revolution — The  need  of  studying  as  well  as  burning 
anarchistic  literature 

viii 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGES 

XVI.    MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 241 

Why  woman  suffrage  has  done  so  little — Why  its 
leaders  are  so  averse  to  the  recognition  of  sex  differ- 
ences in  this  age  when  individual  differences  are  so 
studied — Incompleteness  of  women  without  children — 
The  results  of  her  inferiority  of  physical  strength — 
List  of  sex  differences — Ultimate  goal  of  the  woman 
movement — Secondary  sex  differences  in  psychoanaly- 
sis— Problems  to  which  woman  should  address  herself 
— Marriage  and  divorce. 

XVII. . , MORALE  AND  EDUCATION 271 

War  activities  in  schools,  including  pre-military  train- 
ing— A  paido  versus  a  scholio-centric  system — The 
trend  from  culture  to  Kultur  and  how  to  check  it — 
The  rehumanization  of  the  classics — The  humanistic 
side  of  science — Modifications  needed  in  history  and 
sociology — Education  and  psychology  living  in  a  pre- 
evolutionary  age — Religious,  medical,  and  legal  train- 
ing— Faculty  and  school-board  reforms. 

XVIII.    MORALE   AND    STATESMANSHIP 293 

The  tendency  of  the  soundest  minds  to  become  neu- 
rotic when  confronted  by  great  problems — The 
Nemesis  of  mediocrity — Disproportionate  magnifica- 
tion of  items  of  the  Treaty — Loss  of  perspective  and 
of  the  power  to  compromise — Failure  of  the  League  as 
involving  a  relapse  to  the  old  selfish  continental  policy 
of  each  nation  for  itself. 

XIX.    MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 316 

The  intense  appeal  of  radicalism — The  need  of  a  new 
type  of  professor  of  economics — Hatred  of  the  "Reds" 
for  nationalism  and  substitution  of  war  between 
classes  for  the  war  between  states — The  international 
principle — What  Bolshevik  "nationalization"  of  prop- 
erty would  mean  in  this  country — Its  undemocracy — 
The  religious  movement  vs.  it  in  Russia — Labor  re- 
organization the  hope  of  the  world. 

XX.     MORALE  AND   RELIGION 342 

Peculiar  dangers  of  lapse  to  lower  levels  in  religion 
— Sympathy  between  Catholicism  and  Teutonism — In 
how  far  the  former  is  un-democratic — The  need  and 
opportunity  for  a  new  dispensation  in  religion,  with 
hints  as  to  its  probable  nature. 

r.IBLIOCBAFIJY 373 


ix 


MORALE 

THE  SUPREME  STANDARD 
OF    LIFE    AND    CONDUCT 


CHAPTER  I 

MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

Comparison  of  morale  as  the  modern  standard  with  the  standards  of 
(I)  Conscience,   (II)  Honor,  and  (III)   the  Superman. 

Is  there  any  chief  end  of  man,  any  goal  or  destiny 
supreme  over  all  others?  If  so,  and  if  found,  we  shall 
have  in  the  degree  of  approximation  to  it  the  best  of 
all  scales  on  which  to  measure  real  progress  in  terms 
of  which  all  human  values  are  best  stated  and  defined. 
I  answer  that  there  is  such  a  goal  and  that  it  took 
the  awful  psychic  earthquake  of  war  to  reveal  it  in  its 
true  perspective  and  to  show  us  its  real  scope.  It  is 
simply  this — to  keep  ourselves,  body  and  soul,  and  our 
environment,  physical,  social,  industrial,  etc.,  always 
at  the  very  tip-top  of  condition.  This  super-hygiene 
is  best  designated  as  Morale.  It  implies  the  maximum 
of  vitality,  life  abounding,  getting  and  keeping  in  the 
very  center  of  the  current  of  creative  evolution ;  and 
minimizing,  destroying,  or  avoiding  all  checks,  ar- 
rests, and  inhibitions  to  it.  This  mysterious  de- 
velopmental urge,  entelechy,  will-to-live,  elan  vital, 
horme,  libido,  nisus,  or  by  whatever  name  it  be  called, 
which  made  all  the  ascending  orders  of  life  and  in 
Mansoul  itself  evolved  mind,  society,  language,  myths, 
industry,  gods,  religion — in  short  all  human  institu- 
tions, and  lastly  science,  is  in  some  strong,  in  others 


MOKALE 

weak,  and  in  the  same  individual  it  is  now  high,  now 
low ;  but  its  presence  makes,  and  its  absence  destroys 
morale.  The  story  of  the  retardations  and  advance- 
ments of  this  great  energy  in  the  cosmos  constitutes, 
every  kind  of  real  history.  It  is  the  only  truly  divine 
power  that  ever  was  or  will  be.  Hence  it  follows  that 
morale  thus  conceived  is  the  one  and  only  true  religion 
of  the  present  and  the  future,  and  its  doctrines  are  the 
only  true  theology.  Every  individual  situation  and  in- 
stitution, every  race,  nation,  class,  or  group,  is  best 
graded  as  ascendant  or  decadent  by  its  morale,  hard 
to  guage  as  this  most  imponderable,  vital,  and  fluctu- 
ating of  all  spiritual  qualities  is.  It  is  exquisitely 
sensitive .  to  temperature,  climate,  health,  rest  or  fa- 
tigue, knowledge,  tradition,  and  every  social  influ- 
ence. If  God  be  conceived  as  immanent,  as  thus  im- 
plied, and  not  as  ab  extra  and  transcendent,  which  is 
idolatry,  we  might  define  morale  in  terms  of  the 
Westminster  divines  as  glorifying  God;  while  the 
other  half  of  this  famous  definition  of  man's  chief  end, 
"and  enjoy  Him  forever,"  is  simply  transcendental 
selfishness.  True  morale  is  never  motivated  by  the  ex- 
pectation of  pay  or  pain  in  another  world. 

I.  Morality  and  conscience.  How,  then,  does  morale 
differ  from  morality?  I  answer  it  recognizes  and  does 
justice  to  the  unconscious  and  instinctive  impulsions 
to  virtue,  as  the  Stoic-Christian  ethics  of  conscience 
does  not.  Seneca's  Mens  sibi  conscia  reoti  could 
make  the  good  man  happy  in  poverty,  disgrace,  and 
even  when  tortured  to  death  as  a  martyr;  while  the. 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

tyrant,  though  rich  and  honored  by  all,  was  in  his 
heart  miserable  because  he  lacked  this  inner  sense  of 
right.  Kant's  conception  of  duty  as  sublime  as  the 
starry  heavens  and  as  purged  of  every  vestige  of 
hedonism,  as  making  behavior  conform  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  universal  law-giving,  subjecting  every  issue 
to  the  acid  test  of  asking  what  if  everybody  should 
do  so — these  were  indeed  sublime  ideas.  So,  too,  is 
toleration,  although  it  is  very  hard  indeed  unless 
belief  is  already  cankered  by  doubt. 

These  lofty  conceptions,  however,  are  only  a  part  of 
morale.  Conscience  is  the  very  acme  of  self-con- 
sciousness. It  involves  deliberation  and  excludes 
most  of  those  energies  of  the  soul  that  are  bewusst- 
seinsunfdhig  or  which  cannot  get  into  the  narrow  field 
of  consciousness.  The  case  of  conscience  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  an  inner  oracle,  but  the  brief  which  con- 
sciousness submits  can  never  contain  all  the  data. 
Hence  comes  casuistry  and  every  kind  of  perversion, 
e.  g.,  the  conscientious  objector.  The  sins  done  in  the 
name  of  conscience  are  many  and  great ;  hence  codes 
and  laws  are  necessary. 

The  prizes  offered  for  years  by  the  French  govern- 
ment to  boys  in  the  Lycce  for  the  best  essays  on  moral 
themes  were  so  often  won  by  the  worst  boys,  who 
could  best  praise  the  very  virtues  they  most  violated, 
that  they  were  finally  abandoned  because  it  was  real- 
ized that  these  lads  were  partly  camouflaging  their 
faults  and  developing  hypocrisy;  in  other  words,  the 
kind  of  morality  thus  secured  was  against  the  inter- 

3 


MORALE 

ests  of  true  morale.  It  was  at  best  a  kind  of  flirtation 
with  the  cardinal  virtues.  Over-conscientiousness 
tends  to  a  kind  of  moral  Fletcherism  or  excessive 
mastication  or  rumination  of  motives.  It  has  led  to 
all  the  contorted  scrupulosities  of  the  New  England 
conscience.  This  moral  invalidism  is  often  interest- 
ing, perhaps  pathetic  and  even  tragic  in  its  issue.  It 
keeps  good  resolutions  playing  over  the  surfaces  of 
the  soul,  which  is  enervated  if  they  are  not  enforced. 

Several  decades  ago  the  French  began  collecting  in- 
stances of  conspicuous  virtue  and  now  have  a  score  or 
two  of  school  texts  which  they  have  gathered  not 
merely  from  incidents  recorded  in  the  daily  press  but 
from  their  history  and  literature,  and  these  instances 
of  heroism,  these  golden  deeds,  are  set  forth  for  the 
inspiration  of  the  young.  Altogether  they  constitute 
most  interesting  and  profitable  data  from  which  the 
most  obvious  inference  is  that  in  most  of  these  cases  a 
sudden  crisis  was  sprung  and  the  deed  was  done  quite 
without  reflection  or  any  kind  of  moral  or  other  con- 
sciousness, because  the  morale  of  the  doer  was  already 
high  or  rose  suddenly  to  the  emergency.  There  was 
no  time  for  conscience  to  act  or  for  temptation  but 
only  a  sudden  realization  of  an  instinct  latent  in  all 
of  us  which  points  true  as  the  compass  to  the  pole  to 
the  highest  goal  of  the  individual  and  of  the  race,  viz., 
the  gregarious  or  social  instinct,  which  has  such 
countless  modes  of  expression. 

Years  ago  a  rich  church-lady  fell  from  a  Brooklyn 
ferry-boat  and  was  saved  by  a  rough  English  tar  who, 

4 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

seeing  her  fall,  plunged  in  and  saved  her  by  clinging 
to  a  cake  of  floating  ice.  With  some  difficulty  the 
man  was  found  and  brought  to  a  church-vestry  meet- 
ing, eulogized,  congratulated,  given  a  purse,  and  a 
medal  was  pinned  on  his  jacket;  and  finally,  despite 
his  intense  aversion,  he  was  almost  dragged  to  the 
front  and  made  to  tell  about  the  act.  About  all  he 
could  say  was  that  the  boat  gave  a  lurch,  she  pitched 
into  the  water,  and  he  of  course  hopped  in,  only  doing 
his  duty  as  anyone  would  do.  But  he  added  "I  ain't 
no  hero,  and  if  I'd  a'  supposed  you'd  a'  thought  a 
common  fellow  like  me  was  tryin'  to  do  a  big  thing 
and  would  a'  made  such  a  fuss  about  it,  I'd  a'  let  the 

d old  woman  drown."     He  got  away  from  the 

church  as  soon  as  he  could,  and  the  next  morning 
found  him  in  a  police  court  for  drunkenness  and  dis- 
order. Money  and  medal  were  gone,  and  fame  knew 
him  no  more.  In  this  case  we  have  a  deed  prompted 
by  high  morale  which  was  probably  weakened  by  be- 
ing made  conscious. 

If  we  always  did  right,  we  should  no  more  know 
that  we  had  a  conscience  than  the  well  man  knows  he 
has  a  stomach,  heart,  or  nerves.  To  be  conscious  of 
conscience  means  that  evil  has  found  entrance  and 
that  if  we  now  do  right,  we  do  so  only  with  a  majority 
of  our  faculties  and  not  unanimously  with  them  all. 
Very,  much  good  is  done  in  this  way,  to  be  sure,  but  it 
is  not  virtue  of  the  purest  order  but  of  a  secondary 
quality.  Virginal  purity  never  debates  or  parleys, 
for  to  deliberate  is  too  of tem  to  be  lost.  The  teachable 

5 


MORALE 

morality  of  our  texts  of  ethics  is  of  a  lower  order  than 
the  intuitive  or  automatic.  The  world  needs  it  badly 
enough  but  it  is  essentially  remedial.  It  is  not  so 
much  primordial  innocence  as  moral  convalescence. 
Hence  it  is  not  better  to  have  sinned  and  be  saved 
than  never  to  have  sinned  at  all.  The  old  sailor  felt 
that  to  be  made  conscious  of  his  good  deed  brought 
deterioration  of  its  quality.  If  the  best  of  us  have 
erred,  every  one  of  the  worst  of  us  has,  like  him,  some 
traits  of  pristine,  unfallen,  spontaneous  goodness. 
Even  though  our  moral  instinct  is  not  strong  enough 
to  keep  us  always  right ;  even  though  we  are  not  like 
the  child  who  may  touch  fire,  or  the  chick  that  may 
peck  at  its  excrements  once  but  never  again;  even 
though  we  may  have  become  acutely  conscious  of 
wrong  in  us  to  extirpate  it,  the  essential  thing  is  that 
there  is  the  latent  impulse  back  of  and  prompting  all 
the  conscious  phenomena  and  that  we  do  not  find  it 
in  any  school  of  current  ethics.  Although  conscience 
can  and  will  yet  do  very  much  in  the  world,  it  is  no 
longer  the  supreme  oracle  it  once  was  thought  to  be. 
II.  Honor.  In  this  twilight  of  conscience  the  guide 
most  would  now  turn  to  is  honor,  which  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent sentiment.  A  slur  upon  it  makes  the  most 
cowardly  boy  fight,  the  most  unabashed  girl  blush 
and  weep,  and  the  dread  of  the  loss  of  it  impels  men 
to  face  death  in  almost  any  form.  Life  is  a  paltry 
thing  if  it  must  be  lived  in  dishonor.  Like  conscience, 
it  is  very  subject  to  perversions  and  may  become  ca- 
pricious and  fantastic.  Indeed  it  may  be  but  a 

6 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

crabbed  and  shriveled  remnant  of  what  it  once  was, 
but  it  is  never  absent  even  among  thieves,  prostitutes, 
and  beggars.  If  it  is  threatened,  the  Japanese*  knight 
trained  in  the  chivalric  code  of  bushido  seeks  death 
by  hara-kiri.  What  would  any  modern  social  group 
think  of  a  man  who  would  not  defend  his  lady  escort 
against  brutality  even  though  he  risked  his  life  to  do 
so?  In  the  medieval  courts  of  love  and  under  the 
lofty  ideals  of  King  Arthur  and  the  Round  Table  and 
the  Grail,  honor  was  discussed,  idealized,  defined,  and 
codified.  It  was  defined  as  living  and  acting  as  if 
noble  ladies  were  always  looking  on.  A  German 
pamphlet  tells  us  that  under  the  dueling  code  of  the 
corps  a  member  may  be  declared  dishonorable  on  any 
one  of  sixty- three  points,  for  offense  against  each  of 
which  he  must  win  back  his  honor  on  the  Mensur.  It 
is  sought  in  badges,  titles,  and  decorations.  True,  it 
is  of  pagan  origin  and  our  academic  moralists  give  it 
scant  recognition,  but  it  must  be  reinstalled  and  rein- 
terpreted. Aristotle  thought  it  embodied  in  his  ideal 
of  the  "magnanimous  man,"  dignified  in  mien,  slow  of 
speech  and  movement,  unerring  in  judgment,  and  in 
conflict  always  able  to  find  a  higher  way  out.  Thus 
it  is  older  than  Christianity,  and  its  ideals  perhaps 
on  the  whole  are  somewhat  more  akin  to  those  of  the 
superman  than  they  are  to  those  of  Christianity,  but 
the  true  gentleman  can  pity  even  those  whom  he  may 
feel  that  selection  ought  to  exterminate.  The  man  of 
honor  despises  all  dignity  and  praise  not  based  on 
genuine  intrinsic  merits.  At  his  best  he  is  marked  in 

7 


MOKALE 

all  his  ways  by  a  distinction  so  natural  that  it  seems 
innate,  and  his  friendship,  wherever  he  bestows  it,  is 
an  honorary  degree.  True,  it  is  a  military  virtue 
perhaps  rather  more  than  one  of  peace.  At  its  best 
it  prompts  one  to  ask  in  every  emergency  what  5s  the 
ideal  course  to  pursue,  the  highest,  purest,  most  dis- 
interested motive  to  act  from,  the  loftiest  and  not 
the  most  expedient  solution.  The  man  of  honor  would 
choose  to  be  refuted  by  merely  specious  arguments 
rather  than  to  use  them  and  win  out. 

Dishonor  is  to  succeed  in  anything,  great  or  small, 
by  trick  or  subterfuge.  Honor  is  to  do  right,  but 
not  because  it  would  be  embarrassing  to  be  found  out 
wrong.  It  cannot  accept  secret  rebates,  adulterate  or 
partake  in  corporate  practices  that  as  individuals  one 
would  shrink  from.  It  cannot  be  silent  in  view  of  im- 
position and  outrage  when  exposure  would  put  them 
both  to  flight.  Those  who  do  this  cannot  be  called 
gentlemen.  Shall  we  go  farther  and  say  that  it  is  dis- 
honorable to  accept  from  any  source  a  dollar  that  one 
has  not  earned  by  a  real  service?  Honor's  true  knight 
will  keep  a  personal  conscience  that  neither  party 
allegiance  nor  popular  clamor  can  silence.  His  maxim 
will  not  be  the  craven  one  of  "Make  no  enemies  what- 
ever befalls,"  but  "Make  all  the  enemies  of  truth, 
right,  justice,  and  decency  between  man  and  man  in 
your  community  your"  own." 

This  spirit  is  akin  to  that  of  true  sportsmanship. 
Many  remember  the  critical  moment  in  an  Interna- 
tional Tennis  Championship  game  before  the  war 

8 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPKEME  STANDARD 

when  the  representative  of  this  country  made  a  fluke 
which  would  have  lost  us  the  championship  had  not 
the  English  champion  purposefully  made  exactly  the 
same  fluke  because  he  did  not  deem  it  honorable  to 
win  on  an  accident.  It  is  by  no  means  true  that  this 
spirit  animates  all  our  great  games  in  this  country, 
for  there  are  still  too  many  secret  practices,  tricks, 
and  unfair  advantages  to  make  these  games  ideal 
schools  of  honor.  There  is  hardly  any  amusement, 
even  those  most  tabooed,  which  might  not  be  permit- 
ted if  it  could  only  be  made  a  school  of  honor  pure  and 
undefined,  and  not  of  the  dishonor  which  seeks  to  win 
at  any  price.  Its  standard  of  life  is  single,  not  double. 
It  keeps  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  the  profes- 
sional codes.  It  is  to  the  inner  all  that  the  best  man- 
ners and  style  are  to  the  outer  life.  It  is  the  best  bond 
and  boon  of  friendship,  another  of  the  forgotten  pagan 
virtues  which  in  its  classical  sense  of  Aristotle  and 
Cicero  can  live  again  only  in  its  atmosphere.  Indeed 
honor  is  capable  of  being  construed  as  almost  the 
whole  of  the  inner  vocation  of  man.  It  is  more  elastic 
than  conscience.  In  the  days  of  the  French  Commune 
a  captain  was  seized  on  a  baseless  pretext  and  trun- 
dled in  a  tumbrel  to  the  guillotine.  His  young  wife, 
in  tears  and  agony,  catching  sight  of  him,  tried  to 
press  through  the  crowds  to  stand  by  his  side.  See- 
ing her,  he  shouted,  "Take  her  away;  I  do  not  know 
and  never  saw  her,"  because  he  knew  that  recognition 
would  involve  her  in  his  doom.  Was  this  love,  or 
honor,  or  both?  Together  they  most  certainly  make 

9 


MORALE 

the  most  precious  metal  that  human  life  can  produce. 

In  fine,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  noblest  function 
of  honor  is  to  regulate  love  for  and  duties  to  pos- 
terity, for  all  the  issues  of  future  generations  are  now 
committed  to  the  honor  of  young  men  and  young 
women.  Its  distinction  is  to  preside  over  the  race ;  to 
keep  love  high,  pure,  and  wedded  to  religion,  for 
each  alone  can  keep  the  other  pure;  and  to  be  for 
every  age  the  present  representative  of  that  great 
cloud  of  witnesses  who,  in  the  long  perspective  of 
future  generations,  will  throng  the  earth  when  we 
are  gone,  and  compared  to  which  the  fifteen  hundred 
million  people  alive  to-day  are  but  a  handful.  Honor 
should  be  thus  the  native  breath  and  vital  air  of  the 
true  lady  and  gentleman,  and  in  putting  its  cult  for 
a  time  in  the  place  so  long  occupied  by  that  of  con- 
science, a  great  gain  will  ensue. 

III.  The  superman. — Nietzsche  has  best  formulated 
this  ideal,  which  has  inspirations  for  many  in  our  day 
all  its  own.  The  conception  of  the  superman  claims 
to  be  a  corollary  of  Darwin's  struggle  to  survive  and 
win  the  largest  "place  in  the  sun."  In  the  long  struggle 
of  evolution  the  fittest  have  always  won  out  and  the 
unfit  or  less  fit  have  always  died  out.  Progress  all  the 
way  from  the  amoeba  to  man  has  been  marked  by  the 
death  of  laggards  or  backsliders  who  failed  in  the 
competition.  Hence  for  the  superman  pity  means  de- 
generation of  the  world  and  degradation  for  him. 
Jesus  was  the  arch  plotter  against  the  advancement 
of  the  race  by  teaching  tenderness  to  weaklings.  He 

10 


MOEALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

thus  indefinitely  retarded  the  progress  of  humanity 
and  in  fact  was  Himself  a  pitiful  degenerate,  whom 
we  must  nevertheless  not  pity  but  whom  we  may  im- 
precate and  curse.  If  Russia  to-day  illustrates  the 
effects  of  the  diametrically  opposite  interpretation  of 
evolution,  so  far  as  society  goes,  as  altruism  and  mu- 
tual help  under  the  stress  of  the  herd  instinct  (Kro- 
potkin  and  his  adherents),  the  very  soul  of  Germany, 
on  the  other  hand,  especially  its  militarism,  was  no 
less  saturated  by  the  gospel  of  Nietzsche,  as  is  set 
forth  by  her  military  writers  from  Clausewitz  to 
Bernhardi  and  illustrated  by  the  deliberate  policy  of 
frightfulness  and  atrocities. 

The  superman  breaks  the  old  tables  of  morality  for 
lie  is  above  the  current  conceptions  of  right  and 
wrong,  good  and  evil,  which  civilized  communities 
have!  so  Jong  sanctioned.  He  despises  much  in  the  old 
codes  of  honor  that  used  to  protect  the  weak  amid  de- 
fenseless and  that  would  inculcate  in  the  modern  sol- 
dier the  spirit  of  good  sportsmanship  and  make  him 
adhere  to  the  rules  of  the  game  even  in  grim  and 
grueling  war.  Everything  that  weakens  the  enemy — 
devastation,  sabotage,  poisoning  the  air  (if  not  some- 
times the  very  water  and  food  with  morbific  germs), 
ruthlessness  to  non-combatants,  terrorism,  etc.,  is 
allowable  to  the  superman  and  the  super-state  or 
super-race.  The  true  disciple  of  Zarathustra  must 
not  only  be  great  and  superior  but  must  know  and 
show  it  by  every  token.  He  must  not  and  cannot  be 
really  beaten  or  overcome  even  by  defeat.  His  in- 

11 


MOKALE 

eluctable  pride  is  based  on  the  conviction  that  he  is  a 
"link"  or  "bridge,"  the  hope  of  the  world,  the  key  to 
the  higher  breed  of  men  that  will  rule  the  world  after 
our  stage  of  development  is  forgotten. 

"If  we  fail,  civilization  fails  with  us,"  for  most  of 
the  great  men  of  the  world  have  had  Teutonic  blood 
(Chamberlain).  One  savant  has  lately  told  us  (what 
would  make  Nietzsche  turn  in  his  grave)  that  the  Jes 
or  the  first  syllable  of  the  name  of  Jesus  is  (by  the  ap- 
plication of  certain  new  provisions  and  the  elimina- 
tion of  at  least  one  old  one  in  the  famous  Grimm  laws 
of  phonic  change)  or  originally  was  Ger,  and  the  us 
or  last  syllable  in  His  name  is  simply  the  masculine 
termination,  so  that  "Jesus"  is  etymologically  "the 
German."  The  superman  is  generally  conceived  as 
harsh  and  far  above  being  a  mere  gentleman.  His 
quality  is  something  woman  can  worship  but  can 
never  attain,  for  there  never  was  or  can  be  a  super- 
woman. 

A  century  ago  Germany  was  humanistic,  but  since 
that  time,  and  especially  since  the  War  of  1870,  her 
culture  transformed  itself  into  Kultur,  so  that  prac- 
tical efficiency  is  now  her  ideal,  and  this  is  the  cult  of 
the  superman.  Fichte  made  a  stirring  appeal  to  his 
fellow-countrymen  when  their  armies  were  shattered 
by  Napoleon,  their  resources  exhausted,  and  their 
very  morale  so  near  collapse  that  apparently  but  for 
him  it  would  have  broken,  to  remember  that  they  still 
had  strong  bodies,  a  pure  tongue,  a  literature  and 
philosophy  among  the  best  of  the  world,  and  that  they 

12 


MOKALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

could  only  rehabilitate  themselves  as  a  state  or  nation 
by  trusting  and  utilizing  to  their  uttermost  all  that 
education  and  moral  energy  can  do  to  make  them  the 
center  of  the  world's  culture.  They  listened  to  him 
as  they  had  done  to  no  one  since  Luther,  and  accord- 
ing to  his  scheme  and  inspired  by  him,  the  Univer- 
sity of  Berlin  was  established  and  education  made  the 
chief  concern  of  statesmanship,  so  that  the  regenera- 
tion of  this  country  in  a  century  makes  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  chapters  of  history.  Since  that  great 
day  Germany  has  undergone  a  change  of  ideals  which 
is  nothing  less  than  revolutionary,  for  she  has  turned 
her  back  upon  the  spirit  that  made  her  own  renais- 
sance. She  was  well  on  the  way  toward  the  realization 
of  Fichte's  ideals.  Her  science  was  preeminent,  and 
advanced  students  of  all  lands  flocked  to  her  to  learn 
the  latest  and  best  in  their  departments.  Her  in- 
dustrial technic  led  the  world,  and  she  was  in  a  fair 
way  to  become  a  kind  of  new  theocracy  of  science  and 
culture.  Her  methods,  her  systematization,  her  modes 
of  dealing  with  many  social  problems,  her  products, 
her  trade,  were  all  advancing  at  an  ever  accelerating 
rate. 

Just  when  these  lines  of  development  were  most 
open  and  her  progress  most  rapid,  she  gradually  fell 
under  the  malign  spell  of  the  demon  of  power.  She 
could  not  wait  for  the  gradual  and  natural  conquest 
of  mankind  by  peaceful  methods,  but  after  succeed- 
ing in  doing  what  no  great  race  or  nation  in  history 
had  ever  done  before,  viz.,  in  fusing  the  new  rich  class, 

13 


MOEALE 

which  had  grown  so  strong,  with  the  old  feudal  no- 
bility (which  had  survived  over  from  the  Middle  Ages 
there  as  nowhere  else  since  Germany  never  had  a  rev- 
olution), she  acquired  a  sense  of  power  which  made 
her  an  easy  victim  to  the  spell  of  militarism.  Thus 
she  threw  the  sword  into  the  scale  already  tipping  in 
her  favor  without  it,  and  so  upset  the  equilibrium  of 
the  world.  She  not  only  thus  ceased  to  rule  it  by  nor- 
mal methods  but  checked  all  the  slower  but  surer 
spiritual  influences  by  which  she  was  legitimately  ad- 
vancing towards  supremacy.  Her  fall  was  thus  due 
to  the  delusion  that  the  fittest  was  the  strongest,  and 
by  this  ghastly  error,  which  all  the  great  Germans  of 
two  generations  ago  would  have  abhorred,  she  ha*  not 
only  set  back  the  progress  of  the  world  but  has  for  a 
long  time  to  come  handicapped  her  own  legitimate  in- 
fluences. Will  a  new  Fichte  arise  now  to  tell  the  Ger- 
mans the  painful  truth  and  set  them  back  again  on 
the  true  path  of  what  every  intelligent  and  impartial 
observer  outside,  whose  mind  was  uncorroded  by  pride 
and  ambition,  saw  so  clearly  to  be  the  way  her  destiny 
was  leading  her? 

But  the  ideal  of  the  superman  is  not  all  mere  pa- 
resis or  delusions  of  greatness  but  has  ingredients 
which  the  world  and  its  morale  want,  recognize,  and 
cannot  afford  to  lose.  Hegel  said  "Man  cannot  think 
too  highly  of  himself  as  man,"  but  this  is  true  in  a 
far  different  sense  than  he  meant  it,  for  man  can  now 
read  his  title  clear  to  an  ancient  pedigree  that  goes 
far  back  of  recorded  history,  back  to  the  amphioxus 

14 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

and  even  the  protozoa.  He  lias  won  out  and  thus 
proved  his  stirps  best  fitted  to  survive.  Even  though 
anthropologists  now  tell  us  that  civilized  is  by  no 
means  so  superior  to  savage  man  as  we  have  thought, 
there  is  at  any  rate  a  vast  difference  between  the  best 
and  even  the  second-best  individuals,  and  to  excel 
others  as  well  as  our  own  past  selves  is  one  of  the 
strongest  and  noblest  springs  of  true  ambition.  No 
leveling  Bolshevism  can  ever  efface  the  true  aristoc- 
racy of  native  gifts  or  even  of  individual  attainments. 
Men  are  and  should  strive  to  be  equal  in  nothing  save 
in  opportunity.  There  will  always  be  some  whose 
services  to  the  community  and  the  world  will  be  worth 
hundreds  and  even  thousands  as  much  as  others,  and 
originators,  pioneers,  geniuses,  leaders,  and  experts 
will  always  deserve  and  get  more  of  the  rewards  of 
life  than  those  whose  services  are  worth  less  to  man- 
kind. Indeed  almost  all  can  excel  in  something,  and 
that  something  it  is  the  business  of  not  only  voca- 
tional guidance  but  of  home,  school,  and  every  other 
agency  that  can  be  utilized  for  that  end  to  find  out. 
If  everyone  were  always  doing  his  best  thing,  the 
world  would  leap  forward,  and  there  would  be  vastly 
more  just  and  saving  self-respect  in  all  of  us;  while 
nothing  so  cankers  as  the  realization  of  the  danger  of 
failing  because  there  is  no  opportunity  to  do  our  best. 
But  the  real  superman,  like  the  moralist,  is  too  self- 
conscious.  The  best  man  in  the  world  who  knows 
himself  to  be  such  is  already  spoiled  by  that  knowl- 
edge. Even  Socrates  was  the  wisest  of  men  only  be- 

15 


MOKALE 

cause  he  was  most  conscious  of  his  ignorance,  and  the 
real  overman,  if  praised  by  others  as  he  thinks  he  de- 
serves, becomes  insufferable.  The  Teutonic  Ueber- 
mensch  in  life  and  in  the  voluminous  literature  in 
which  he  has  lately  appeared  is  always  a  supreme 
egoist,  a  victim  of  conscious  hyperindividuation,  some- 
times not  without  a  taint  of  Narcissism.  But  there 
ought  always  and  everywhere  to  be  a  conception  of 
the  higher  ideal  man  and  a  belief  that  he  will  some- 
time appear.  When  he  does  come,  he  will  be  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  Teutonic  ideal.  He  will  merge  and 
perhaps  efface  himself  in  his  cause  or  task ;  although 
greatest,  he  will  be  content  to  be  thought  least;  he 
will  be  vastly  more  naive  than  self-conscious,  and  will 
place  the  good  of  others  before  that  of  himself. 

IV.  Morale. — The  above  three  ideals  of  life  and  con- 
duct do  not  suffice  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  new  era 
which  is  upon  us,  and  the  purpose  of  this  book  is  to 
suggest  a  fourth,  the  realization  of  which  in  its  true 
perspective  was  one  of  the  very  best  results  of  the 
war  and  which  should  now  be  made  a  new  oracle  in 
this  period  of  reconstruction. 

Morale,  while  not  entirely  definable,  is  best  char- 
acterized as  the  cult  of  condition.  It  includes  many 
of  the  best  of  the  maxims  of  the  other  three  standards, 
but  adds  a  new  factor  of  its  own  which  gives  the  old 
ones  a  higher  unity  and  greatly  enhances  their  energy. 
Psychophysic  condition  is  the  most  important  factor 
in  any  and  every  kind  of  success.  Men  slump  morally, 
financially,  in  their  creeds,  and  even  into  ill-health 

16 


MOEALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

because  they  lose  condition.  In  a  way  this  has  always 
been  recognized,  for  the  oldest  and  most  universal 
form  of  greeting  is  "How  are  you  feeling?"  and  "I 
hope  you  are  well" — are  the  tides  of  life  running  high 
or  low  to-day — as  if  this  was  a  thing  of  prime  concern. 
When  we  awake  after  a  sound  and  refreshing  sleep 
with  every  organ  in  tune  and  at  concert  pitch,  and 
thank  whatever  gods  we  believe  in  that  we  are  alive, 
well,  young,  strong,  buoyant,  and  exuberant,  with  ani- 
mal spirits  at  the  top-notch ;  when  we  are  full  of  joy 
that  the  world  is  so  beautiful,  that  we  can  love  our 
dear  ones,  and  can  throw  ourselves  into  our  work  with 
zest  and  abandon  because  we  like  it;  when  our  prob- 
lems seem  not  insoluble  and  the  obstacles  in  our  path 
not  insuperable;  when  we  feel  that  our  enemies  are 
either  beaten  or  placated;  in  a  word,  when  we  face 
reality  gladly  and  with  a  stout  heart  even  if  it  is  grim 
and  painful,  and  never  doubt  that  it  is  good  at  the 
core  and  all  evil  is  subordinate  to  good,  that  even  if 
we  are  defeated  and  overwhelmed  in  a  good  cause  all 
is  not  lost;  when  we  feel  that  we  live  for  something 
that  we  would  die  for  if  need  be — this  is  Morale. 

Morale  is  thus  health.  It  means  wholeness  or  holi- 
ness, the  flower  of  every  kind  of  hygiene.  It  is  the 
state  in  which  the  whole  momentum  of  evolution  is 
at  its  best  and  strongest  in  us.  It  is  found  wherever 
the  universal  hunger  for  more  life  is  best  getting 
its  fill.  The  great  religious,  especially  the  Christian 
founders  who  strove  to  realize  the  kingdom  of  God, 
that  is,  of  man  here  and  now,  are  perhaps  the 

17 


MORALE 

world's  very  best  illustrations  of  high  morale.  It  is 
the  race  seeking  expression  in  the  individual,  or  in  the 
antique  phrases  of  theology  it  is  God  coming  to  con- 
sciousness in  man.  In  an  athletic  team  and  its  mem- 
bers it  is  conscientious  training  beforehand,  and  in  the 
crisis  it  is  struggling  with  abandon,  throwing  every- 
thing we  have,  are,  and  can  do  into  the  game  up  to  the 
last  moment  for  the  sake  of  the  team,  the  college,  and 
the  city  each  player  represents.  Morale  is  a  state  and 
partly  a  diathesis.  Its  only  code  is  that  of  personal 
and  social  hygiene.  It  is  perpetual  and  general  pre- 
paredness to  act  more  efficiently  in  every  emergency 
as  it  presents  itself,  where  often  to  deliberate  means 
to  lose  an  occasion.  It  not  only  faces  opportunities 
as  they  come  but  sallies  forth  to  meet  and  even  to 
make  them. 

Morale  is  the  very  soul  of  the  soldier.  It  makes  an 
army  as  keen  for  attack  as  valiant  in  defense.  It  is 
bold  and  even  enterprising  to  say  to  any  and  every  op- 
portunity "I  can ;"  but  it  does  not  stop  here  but  adds 
"I  will."  Nor  does  it  stop  here,  because  for  it  the  sad 
chasm  between  knowing  and  even  willing  and  doing 
is  completely  bridged,  so  that  the  man  of  morale  "does 
it  now." 

Again,  morale  not  only  permits  but  often  sanctions 
many  things  which  the  old  codes  of  morals,  honor,  and 
superhumanity  forbid,  for,  like  conscience,  these  may 
make  cowards  of  us  all.  Morale  serves  us  right  when 
we  have  to  do  a  lesser  wrong,  as  everybody  very  often 
has  to  do,  for  the  sake  of  a  greater  good.  It  may  feel 

18 


MORALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

itself  so  "fixed  in  truth  that  it  can  play  with  gracious 
lies."  It  may  be  cruel  in  order  to  be  kind,  break  the 
letter  of  laws  to  keep  their  spirit,  defy  old  and  warped 
ideas  of  honor  in  the  interests  of  the  new  and  higher 
interpretations  of  life.  It  is  ever  mindful  not  only  of 
new  occasions  but  of  the  new  duties  they  teach  and 
also  of  the  old  ones  that  they  often  abolish.  Just  as 
the  doctor  finds  in  every  new  case  new  complications, 
so  that  the  symptom  complexes  of  his  patient  are 
never  exactly  found  in  any  medical  textbook ;  and  just 
as  the  lawyer,  especially  under  the  new  method  of  case 
study,  finds  with  his  every  client  circumstances  for 
which  he  seeks  in  vain  for  prescriptions  in  any  corpus 
juris;  as  in  both  these  and  all  professions  and  voca- 
tions there  are  new  factors  that  throw  us  back  upon 
our  original  resources,  so  all  the  exigencies  of  life,  to 
be  adequately  met,  demand  incessant  preparedness  in 
the  form  of  high  psychophysic  tone.  All  the  rest  is 
mechanism  and  routine  but  this  is  a  glint  of  creative 
evolution.  The  soldier  may  be  trained  what  to  do  in 
the  melee,  how  to  shoot  from  the  hip  without  aiming, 
how  to  stab  and  withdraw  his  bayonet,  how  to  club, 
trip,  hit,  jiu-jitsu,  gouge,  and  strike  for  sensitive 
parts,  and  all  this  is  a  great  help;  but  in  a  mortal 
scrimmage  of  man  against  man,  where  each  is  beyond 
the  control  of  officers  and  is  thrown  upon  his  own  per- 
sonal resources  for  initiative — here  it  is  that  condi- 
tion wins  and  the  lack  of  it  means  death.  Here  the 
soldier  fights  with  all  that  he  ever  was  or  did ;  indeed 
with  all  that  his  ancestors  ever  were  and  did.  Here, 

19 


MORALE 

other  things  being  anywhere  nearly  equal,  it  is  morale 
that  decides.  Only  high  morale,  too,  can  make  the 
fighters  in  an  army  good  losers.  The  no  less  cardinal 
trait  of  morale  is  thus  how  it  takes  defeat  and  retreat, 
and  especially  how  it  bears  up  under  long  bombard- 
ments or  how  much  shelling  can  be  endured  without 
succumbing  to  shell-shock.  Here  the  only  salvation  is 
in  the  alleviation  of  grim,  passive  endurance,  which 
only  condition  can  supply,  for  it  alone  makes  diver- 
sion, physical  and  mental,  possible  and  effective,  and 
it  is  it  also  that  makes  of  this  long  and  inactive  expo- 
sure to  danger  a  method  of  steeling  the  will  and  re- 
solve to  fight  the  harder  when  the  time  for  it  comes. 

Thus  my  book  is  a  plea  for  nothing  less  than  a  new 
criterion  of  all  human  worths  and  values.  I  would 
have  the  home,  the  state,  the  church,  literature,  sci- 
ence, industry,  and  every  human  institution,  not  ex- 
cluding religion,  and  perhaps  it  most,  rejudged  and 
revaluated  by  the  standard  of  what  they  contribute 
to  individual,  industrial,  and  social  morale.  This 
would  give  us  a  new  scale  on  which  to  measure  real 
progress  or  regression. 

The  war  itself  was  the  bankruptcy  of  the  old  cri- 
teria. Right  and  wrong,  honor,  and  superhumanity 
as  we  had  interpreted  them,  led  us  astray.  We  trusted 
these  old  oracles  too  long  and  too  implicitly.  Their 
voices  had  become  raucous  with  age  and  indeed  they 
rarely  spoke  ait  all.  They  have  now  completely  failed 
us,  and  we  have  paid  and  shall  long  continue  to  pay 
the  penalty  of  our  deafness.  The  world  war  was 

20 


MOKALE  AS  A  SUPREME  STANDARD 

simply  the  collapse  of  the  world  morale.  It  was  not 
merely  that  Germany  lost  her  old  soul  and  the  new 
one  she  put  in  its  place  proved  a  demon,  but  the  other 
countries  lost  their  vital  touch  upon  present  reality ; 
and  this  for  many  reasons,  partly  because  it  had  be- 
come too  vast  and  complicated  for  any  save  a  few 
seers,  who  were  thought  to  be  Cassandras,  squarely 
to  envisage.  Henceforth,  those  states  and  those  leaders 
who  do  not  know,  cannot  face  and  base  their  conduct 
upon  the  larger  cosmic  aspects  of  the  world  will  be 
cowards  taking  flight  from  reality,  perhaps  to  a  Nar- 
cissistic absorption  in  jingoism  or  chauvinism.  As 
never  before,  each  vital  racial  or  national  factor  in 
history  must  get  into  and  keep  in  close  rapport  with 
all  the  resit,  for  the  synthesis  especially  of  the  great 
peoples  of  the  earth  is  to  be  henceforth  far  closer.  The 
day  of  each  for  itself  is  passed.  So  there  must  be  a 
new  international  consciousness  and,  what  is  far  more 
important,  a  new  instinct  feeling  of  solidarity.  Few, 
indeed,  of  the  leaders  of  the  old  ante-bellum  dispensa- 
tion can  become  our  guides  in  the  new  age  that  is  now 
dawning.  Hence  we  must  train  new  ones,  and  just 
in  proportion  as  we  cannot  see  our  way  clearly  ahead, 
keep  ourselves  at  the  acme  of  alertness  for  each  next 
step  as  the  way  opens. 


CHAPTER  II 

MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

Our   present   problem   of  morale  in   general   and   especially   in   this 
country — Its  peculiar  difficulties  here— Its  relations  to  health. 

One  of  the  best  culture  results  of  the  war  has  been 
to  make  all  intelligent  people  think  and  talk  much 
about  morale.  There  is  already  an  interesting,  valu- 
able, and  rapidly  growing  literature  about  it.1  Now 
that  the  war  is  over,  the  interest  which  was  growing 
so  rapidly  in  army  morale  is  being  transferred  to  civil 
life,  and  we  are  coming  into  a  new  appreciation  of  its 
value  and  meaning  in  that  domain,  and  are  hearing 
of  personal,  family,  community,  city,  party,  business, 
institutional,  national  morale,  etc.  Thus  the  war 
has  given  us  a  new  sense  of  the  value  of  this  intan- 
gible, spiritual  virtue  which,  in  a  word,  means  manli- 
ness. There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  army,  like  all 
other  human  institutions,  is  a  state  of  mind.  Its 
morale  is  its  soul  (Mens  agitat  molem},  without 
which  masses  of  men  and  munitions  make  only  a  blind 
titan  Polyphemus. 

What  is  the  popular  conception  of  morale?  No  two 
ideas  of  it  are  alike.  It  can  no  more  be  defined  than 
energy,  or  life,  or  soul.  All  we  can  do  is  to  try  to  de- 
scribe, to  feel,  and  to  guide  it.  We  can  already  see 

1  See  descriptive  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  book. 

22 


MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

that  it  has  very  deep  roots;  its  ultimate  source  is 
nothing  less  than  the  great  evolutionary  urge  itself. 
Of  this  it  is,  as  we  are  now  conceiving  it,  about  the 
latest  and  highest  product.  It  bottoms,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  nothing  less  than  the  evolutionary  nisus  it- 
self. As  Carruth  said,  "Some  call  it  evolution,  and 
others  call  it  God."  When  and  where  it  is  strongest 
it  makes  the  individual  feel  "fit"  for  any  task.  It  also 
gives  him  a  sense  of  solidarity  with  his  comrades 
seeking  the  same  end,  and  enables  him  either  to  do  or 
to  suffer  in  a  common  cause.  To  some  extent  it  ebbs 
and  flows  by  causes  within  which  we  cannot  control 
or  even  fully  understand.  Yet  to  a  great  extent  it 
can,  like  condition  in  an  athlete,  be  trained  for  and 
cultivated.  To  do  this  latter  for  morale  in  every  field 
is  one  of  the  great  demands  which  modern  civilization 
is  now  laying  upon  itself,  in  far  greater  degree  than 
ever  before.  For  this  reason  it  is  of  fundamental  im- 
portance for  those  who  would  fully  enter  into  the  life 
of  the  dawning  post-bellum  epoch  very  carefully  to 
weigh  its  importance  and  learn  all  that  can  be  taught, 
and  to  seek  from  every  source  all  the  practical  insight 
available  to  keep  it  at  its  best  in  ourselves,  in  those] 
nearest  to  us,  and  in  every  institution  with  which  w& 
are  connected.  All,  especially  every  young  man  and 
woman,  wish  to  be,  to  do  something  in  the  world  that 
is  worth  while.  In  proportion  to  the  momentum  of 
life  which  they  inherit  they  feel  the  impulse  of  the 
youth  in  Longfellow's  "Excelsior"  to  climb  ever 
higher,  to  gain  influence,  power,  and  possession,  to 

23 


MORALE 

overcome  obstacles,  and.  to  make  the  most  and  best  of 
themselves.  This  vital  energy  keeps  up  a  constant 
pressure  upon  reality  about  them  to  subdue  it  and 
mold  it  to  their  will,  as  man  has  always  sought  to 
dominate  Nature  and  Circumstance.  In  terms  of 
psychanalysis  morale  ought  to  be  highest  when  we  are 
hardest  up  against  reality  in  the  Here  and  Now,  for 
tfhen  it  is  best  and  most  aggressive  it  not  only  faces 
rather  than  flees  from  reality  but  tends  to  construe 
and  realize  every  goal  of  the  race  here  and  now  so  in- 
tensely that  the  past  and  the  future  grow  a  little  pale 
for  the  time. 

But  when  morale  sags  or  fails  of  attaining  this  goal, 
then  the  tide  ebbs  and  the  individual  turns  away  from 
reality,  perhaps  loses  himself  in  memories  or  dreams 
of  the  future,  loses  heart  and  courage,  and  becomes  a 
coward  to  life.  He  is  unable  to  face  the  Here  and 
Now,  evades,  and  becomes  a  slacker,  and  if  this  aban- 
donment of  the  life  impulse  goes  too  far  it  may  bring 
him  face  to  face  with  suicide,  which  is  the  acme  of 
recreancy.  Thus  there  is  a  sense  in  which  life  is 
everywhere  and  always  a  battle,  in  which  the  presence 
or  absence  of  morale  determines  success  or  failure, 
for  there  is  always  repression  to  be  overcome.  ^L 

"Let  us  first,  then,  consider  morale  in  war,  and  then 
attempt  to  apply  some  of  its  lessons  to  the  conditions 
of  peace. 

Perhaps  the  most  salient  instance  in  all  history  of 
the  collapse  of  morale  on  a  large  scale  is  found  in  the 
Russian  debacle  of  1917.  A  nation  of  180,000,000, 

24 


MOKALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

with  an  army  of  nearly  20,000,000  sturdy,  fighting 
men,  lost  its  morale,  abandoned  the  field  to  the  enemy, 
and  in  its  disintegration  tore  down  the  most  auto- 
cratic regime  in  Europe  and  from  the  extreme  of  im- 
perialism swung  over  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  Bol- 
shevism. It  will  be  one  of  the  most  complex  and  fas- 
cinating problems  of  the  psychology  of  the  future  to 
analyze  and  explain  this  unprecedented  metamorpho- 
sis, but  there  is  no  better  single  phrase  that  can  now 
describe  it  than  to  say  that  the  Russian  morale  went 
into  bankruptcy/^ 

On  the  other  hand,  history  perhaps  presents  no  such 
salient  example  of  both  the  power  and  the  persistence 
of  morale  as  the  way  in  which  the  Belgians  and  the 
other  Allies  endured  the  shock  of  the  onset  of  war 
and  the  series  of  overwhelming  calamities  and  defeats 
of  its  first  three  and  one-half  years.  England  lost  her 
general-in-chief  in  whom  her  hopes  centered,  had  to 
raise  an  army  of  a  size  and  with  a  speed  utterly  un- 
precedented in  her  history,  and  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  crushing  defeat  at  the  Marne.  Neither  the,  army 
nor  the  people  of  Belgium  lost  heart,  although  over- 
whelmed and  plundered  and  outraged  by  the  enemy 
to  a  degree  unknown  hitherto.  Italy,  with  her  high 
hopes  and  early  victories,  saw  her  armies  rolled  up  al- 
most to  the  gates  of  Venice.  The  campaign  against 
Constantinople  had  to  be  ingloriously  abandoned. 
The  French  for  years  saw  the  enemy  raping  towns 
and  moving  steadily  toward  Paris,  threatening  to  di- 
vide them  from  their  English  ally  by  driving  the  latter 

25 


MORALE 

into  the  sea.  Then  there  were  the  great  surprises  of 
technique  sprung  by  the  Germans — Zeppelins,  sub- 
marines, poison  gas,  Flammenwerfer,  and  systematic 
atrocities,  aimed  in  fact  chiefly  at  morale,  which 
through  all  these  disasters,  however,  never  faltered, 
but  after  long  years  of  trial  came  back  with  a  glorious 
and  complete  victory.  Of  all  the  nations  probably 
France,  when  everything  is  cleared  up,  will  be  seen  to 
have  shown  the  most  superb  morale,  because  la  patrie 
seems,  especially  since  the  end  of  the  Concordat,  to 
have  taken  tlhe  place  held  by  the  Church  in  its  palmi- 
est days,  and  the  extraordinary  religious  revival2  that 
had  swept  over  the  country  just  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  was,  when  it  is  psychologically  understood, 
perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  the  factors  that 
made  up  tlhe  French  morale.y 

I.  Difficulties  of  maintaining  morale  in  this  conn- 
trys—In  this  country  we  had  peculiar  difficulties  in 
maintaining  ideal  morale,  both  as  we  entered  the  war 
and  in  the  training  camps  and  later  at  the  front. 

*  For  a  brief  but  brilliant  review  of  this  revival  see  Albert  Schinz : 
The  Renewal  of  French  Thought  on  the  Eve  of  the  War.  Am.  Jour. 
Psy.  XXVIII.,  297-313,  June,  1913.  Among  the  very  many  literary  ex- 
pressions of  this  religious  trend  in  France  just  before  the  war  we 
might  mention  the  Voyage  du  Centurion,  by  B.  Psichari  (the  grand- 
son of  Renan,  who  was  killed  at  the  head  of  his  artillery  battery).  The 
centurion  of  the  New  Testament  was  a  Roman  officer  who  came  to 
Jesus  believing  He  could  heal  at  n  distance.  Jesus  was  so  impressed 
by  his  faith  that,  although  the  man  was  a  Gentile,  He  healed  his 
son  and  at  a  distance,  which  he  never  did  for  any  Jew.  This  shows 
how  Jesus  regarded  the  soldier.  The  conversion  of  Juliette  Adam ; 
the  voluminous  literature  idealizing  Jeanne  d'Arc:  the  new  editions 
of  Calvin  and  the  Life  of  St.  Augustine  are  other  examples  of 
what  was  almost  a  renaissance  of  the  religious  spirit  in  France,  seen, 
too,  in  so  many  of  the  memoirs  of  its  young  soldiers  and  officers.  The 
best  illustrations  of  this  spirit  that  have  appeared  in  English  are 
Donald  W.  Hankey's  A  Student  in  Arms  and  Coningsby  Dawson's 
Carry  On. 

26 


MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  every  day's  censored  report  as- 
sured us  that  the  morale  of  the  troops  of  all  the  Allies 
was  excellent,  and  this  very  iteration  betrayed  a  deep, 
though  half  unconscious  fear  that  it  might  break  and 
thus  bring  the  most  dire  disasters.  That  it  must  and 
should  not  break  ("They  shall  not  pass")  was  our 
deepest  resolve,  and  hence  we  sometimes  became  in- 
tolerant in  insisting  that  nothing  be  said  or  done  any- 
where that  could  lower  morale,  either  at  home  or  at 
the  front.  This  was  the  motive  of  censorship,  and  of 
certain  restrictions  upon  our  former  freedom  of 
speech  and  press. 

There  were  also  individual  difficulties  of  maintain- 
ing morale  in  this  country.  Stimulus  implies  reaction, 
but  in  the  new  conditions  of  trench  warfare  men  often 
had  to  remain  passive  and  not  yield  even  to  the  im- 
pulse to  escape.  This  generated  no  end  of  tension, 
and  made  them  very  susceptible  to  shell  shock,  which 
rarely  comes  to  men  in  action.  The  bombardments 
preliminary  to  an  attack  were  directed  chiefly  against 
the  enemy's  morale.  Every  kind  of  activity,  mental 
or  physical,  within  the  trenches  while  under  fire  safe- 
guards morale.  Quiescence  under  stimuli  is  very  dan- 
gerous, and  any  activation  'helps. 

Gassing,  too,  is  very  hard  on  morale.  The  possi- 
bility of  being  smothered  like  a  rat  in  a  hole,  and  the 
fighting  with  gas-masks,  which  lessen  respiration  and 
interrupt  communication,  are  intense  strains  on  forti- 
tude and  bring  a  new  danger  of  demoralization. 
Many  people  have  an  instinctive  horror  of  all  closed 

27 


MORALE 

spaces  (claustrophobia),  possibly  inherited,  from  our 
cave-dwelling  ancestors,  and  men  of  a  respiratory 
type,  whose  morale  is  unusually  dependent  upon 
atmospheric  conditions,  are  in  special  danger. 
/  We  were  not,  like  the  Belgians,  French,  and  Itali- 
[  ans,  fighting  on  our  own  soil  or  defending  it  from  the 
prospect  of  invasion,  and  thus  we  lacked  the  motive 
of  desperation.  Our  wives  and  daughters  were  not 
outraged ;  neither  were  our  goods  pillaged,  our  indus- 
tries destroyed,  our  capital  raided  by  airplanes  or 
fired  at  by  "Big  Berthas ;"  our  soldiers  could  have  no 
home  leave  to  "blighty ;"  and  so  our  stake  seemed  even 
less  than  that  of  England.  Thus  to  the  average  Amer- 
ican soldier,  his  interest  in  the  war  was  less  personal 
and  our  country's  interest  was  less  material,  all  of 
which  bears  on  morale.  \ 

We  are  less  homogeneous  racially,  less  unified  by 
our  history  and  national  traditions  than  are  the  lead- 
ing nations  of  Europe.  Many  of  our  soldiers  were 
born  abroad,  as  were  the  ancestors  of  all  of  us  a  few 
generations  back.  Scores  of  thousands  of  our  soldiers 
knew  little  English,  and  about  every  race  and  nation 
of  the  world  was  represented  in  our  recruits.  It  takes 
generations  to  weld  heterogeneous  people  into  unity. 
We  have  not  even  a  convenient  or  unique  name;  the 
United  States  cannot  be  indicated  by  an  adjective. 
( Some  have  suggested  that  we  might  take  the  occasion 
of  the  war,  as  Russia  did  to  rename  Petrograd,  and 
henceforth  call  ourselves  "Columbia,"  but  I  think 
"New  Europe"  would  be  a  better  and  more  timely 

28 


MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

designation,  just  as  New  England  was  named  for  its 
mother  country,  for  nearly  all  our  inhabitants  are 
practically  New  Europeans.)  So,  too,  there  are  sec- 
tional differences,  and  we  also  suffer  from  hyperin- 
dividuation,  which  is  more  uncurbed  here,  even  for 
corporations,  by  the  interests  of  the  public  welfare. 
Hence  enemy  propaganda,  with  our  large  German 
population,  had  an  unparalleled  field  for  all  its  activi- 
ties, and  this  is  inimical  to  morale. 

We  lacked  all  military  traditions  and  spirit.  We 
had  committed  two  mortal  crimes  against  the  God  of 
Things  As  They  Are,  which,  as  history  shows,  he  never 
allows  to  go  unavenged.  First,  we  were  very  rich, 
and  secondly,  we  were  very  defenseless.  The  spirit  of 
democracy  and  of  militarism  are  in  a  sense  diamet- 
rical opposites.  Although  375,000  men  enlisted,  we 
had  to  deal  chiefly  with  drafted  men,  taken  from  the 
free  pursuit  of  life,  liberty,  and  happiness  to  totally 
new  conditions,  where  subordination  and  discipline 
are  the  prime  necessities,  and  individual  freedom  and 
initiative  are  reduced  to  a  minimum,  with  regimenta- 
tion and  prescription  unlimited.  We  had  to  cultivate 
militarism  most  intensively  in  order  to  repress  it  in 
the  world.  We  learned  that  liberty  had  to  be  de- 
fended by  the  same  means  as  autocracy  must  be.  We 
came  to  respect  the  military3  system  not  only  as  per- 

*  L.  C.  Andrews :  Fundamentals  of  Military  Service,  Phil.,  Lip- 
pincott,  1916:  F.  L.  Huidekoper:  The  Military  Unpreparedness  of  the 
United  States,  N.  Y.,  MacMillan,  1915;  W.  A.  Pew:  Making  a  Sol- 
dier, Bosk,  Badger,  1917 ;  L.  H.  Bailey :  Universal  Service  the  Hope 
of  Humanity,  N.  Y.,  1918;  J.  Peterson  and  Q.  J.  David:  The  Psy- 
chology of  Handling  Men  in  the  Army.  Minneapolis,  The  Perrin 
Book  Co.,  1919.  See  also  the  German  War  Book,  tr.  by  J.  H.  Mor- 
gan, Lond.,  J.  Murray,  1915. 

29 


haps  the  oldest  of  all  human  institutions  but  as  the 
most  important  agency  in  welding  individuals  into 
true  communities.  Sheridan  called  discipline  seven- 
ty-five per  cent  of  efficiency.  It  is  team-work  which 
enables  a  squad  to  overcome  a  mob,  which  makes  men 
out  of  "flabs,"  so  that  war,  to  say  nothing  of  its  moral 
equivalents,  came  as  a  new  dispensation  to  us.  To 
make  a  soldier  out  of  the  average  free  American  citi- 
zen is  thus  not  unlike  domesticating  a  very  wild  spe- 
cies of  animal.  In  subordinating  individuals  we 
should  not,  however,  forget  that  the  "kicker"  is  often 
the  born  fighter  and  needs  only  the  right  direction  for 
his  energies.  All  these  obstacles  to  morale  we  more 
or  less  overcame. 

/  Germany  had  its  own  unique  morale.  It  had  broken 
(with  its  past,  with  the  age  of  Kant  and  Goethe,  with 
its  culture  of  fifty  or  one  hundred  years  before,  al- 
most as  completely  as  Bolshevism  had  broken  with 
the  earlier  aristocratic  and  bourgeois  revolutionists  in 
Russia,  and  yet  both  were  usurpers  claiming  the  pres- 
tige of  a  preceding  stage.  The  Germans  profoundly 
believed  themselves  to  be  the  world  apostles  of 
Kultur,  the  true  supermen  called  by  their  fate  or 
genius  to  subject  their  neighbors  and  bring  them  to 
a  higher  stage  of  civilization.  This  conviction  of  su- 
periority, which  had  grown  so  strong,  coupled  with 
an  instinct  for  discipline  and  feudal  subordination 
of  rank  to  rank  in  a  long  series,  was  the  essence  of 
their  morale  which,  it  is  our  fond  hope,  has  been 
overcome  with  the  defeat  of  their  armies,  ^k 

30 


MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

II.  Morale  and  health. — Health  is  one  of  the  prime 
bases  of  morale.  Health  means  wholeness  or  holiness. 
The  modern  hygienist  asks :  What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  health,  or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  health?  In 
recent  years  we  have  seen  new  and  great  attention  to 
personal,  school,  public,  municipal,  and  domestic  hy- 
gieneXand  since  the  regimen  of  the  Japanese  armies 
in  that  country's  war  with  Russia  showed  its  import- 
ance, and  since  the  lack  of  it  in  our  Cuban  campaign 
was  so  Disastrous,  on  all  sides  more  stress  was  laid 
Q^jMsSfnitary  conditions  than  in  any  other  war. 

The  most  universal  greeting  the  world  over  consists 
in  mutual  inquiries  about  our  health  and  perhaps  even 
that  of  those  nearest  to  us,  as  if  all  assume  its  cardinal 
importance.  Now,  real  health  is  not  merely  keeping 
out  of  the  doctor's  hands  but  its  cult  aims  at  keeping 
each  at  the  very  tip-top  of  his  condition  so  that  he 
feels  full  of  the  joy  of  life  (euphoria)  and  capable  of 
doing  or  suffering  anything  if  called  to  do  so.  Most 
of  the  world's  work  is  done  on  a  rather  low  hygienic 
level,  but  its  great  achievements,  the  culminating  work 
of  the  leaders  of  our  race,  have  been  the  product  of 
exuberant,  euphorious,  and  eureka  moments,  for  a 
man's  best  things  come  to  him  when  he  is  in  his  best! 
state. 

War,  ^>f  course,  needs  intense  physical  energy,  and 
the  labor  of  drill  and  camp-work,  which  has  toned  up 
so  many  men  of  poor  physique,  has  left  a  bequest  to 
morale  that  ought  to  long  outlive  the  war.  To  be 

31 


MOKALE 

weak  is  to  be  miserable,  and  to  be  strong  and  well  pre- 
disposes to  true  virtue.  The  muscles  are  nearly  half 
the  body-weight.  They  are  the  organs  of  the  will, 
which  has  done  everything  man  has  accomplished,  and 
if  they  are  kept  at  concert  pitch  the  chasm  between 
knowing  and  doing,  which  is  often  so  fatal,  is  in  a 
measure  closed.  There  is  no  better  way  of  stengthen- 
ing  all  that  class  of  activities  which  we  ascribe  to  the 
will  than  by  cultivating  muscle. 

III.  Food  conditions  morale. — It  has  always  been 
known  that  starving  troops  could  not  fight.  The 
French  scientists*  tell  us  that  there  is  a  particular 
type  of  man,  in  whom  the  digestive  functions  predom- 
inate, that  is  paralyzed  more  quickly  than  any  other 
type  by  any  deficiency  in  quality  or  quantity  of  food, 
and  that  these  may  more  easily  become  heroic  when 
defending  their  stores.  >  Camp  Gretmleaf  applied  this 
principle  by  giving  the  rookies  who  came  there  fresh 
from  their  homes  somewhat  better  food  for  two  weeks 
than  others  got  in  order  to  make  them  more  contented. 
In  a  sense  man,  like  an  animal,  feels  most  at  home 
when  and  where  he  feeds  best, and  if  man  really  "fights 
on  his  stomach/'  then  fighting  on  an  empty  stomach  is 
^proverbially  hard.  Recent  studies  in  this  field  by  the 
Pawlow  school  have  sihown  us  how  fundamental 

4  This  is  one  conclusion  of  the  remarkable  studies  begun  many 
years  ago  by  Sigaud  in  the  Traite  Clinique  de  la  Digestion  et  du 
\r  Regime  Alimentarie  (Paris,  Doin,  1900),  developed  by  Thooris,  Sturel, 
Chailliou,  and  best  summarized  in  Morphologic  Medicale;  Etude  det 
quatre  Types  Humains  by  A.  J.  M.  Chaillou  and  Leon  MacAuliffe. 
See  also  the  more  or  less  independent  line  of  Italian  research  in 
Achille  de  Giovanni's  Clinical  Commentaries  Deduced  from  the  Mor- 
phology of  the  Human  Body  (Tr.)»  Loud.,  Bebman,  1909. 

32 


MORALE,  PATRIOTISM,  AND  HEALTH 

proper  metabolism,  normal  appetite  and  food-taking 

are  for  mental  states  and  processes,  and  have  shown 

^^X^  ^r 

us  also  how  appetite  is  the  mainspring  that  impels 
all  the  processes  of  digestion  down  to  the  very  Metch- 
nikoff  and  Freudian  end  of  the  thirty-foot  alimentary 
tube.  Some  still  think  that  military  life  demands 
stimulants,  although  othersfliold  that  it  is  easier  to 
dispense  with  them  thajarln  civil  lifeV  It  does  seem  to 
be  established  by  this  war  that  smoking  is  a  whole- 
some sedative  te^war  strains,  and  certainly  none  but 
a  fanatic  Irjgienist  would  banish  the  "fag."  Despite 
the  needg'in  this  department  a  soldier's  life  requires 

that  he  be  able  in  emergency  to  endure  more  or  less 

jf  <* 

privation  even  here.>>. Perhaps  we  may  conclude  that 

while  proper  and  regular  food  is  a  very  important 
constituent  of  morale,  this  can  be  maintained  at  a 
very  high  level  and  for  a  long  time  even  under  great 
deprivation. 

Rest  and  sleep,  of  course,  make  a  great  difference. 
A  tired  army  is  far  more  liable  to  panic,  and  fear 
often  takes  cover  behind  exhaustion.  Sleep  builds  up 
disintegrating  cells,  rejuvenates,  and  its  very  dreams 
are  often  a  safety  valve  or  catharsis  for  war  strains 
generally  and  even  for  experiences  and  memories. 
Thus,  too,  the  time  of  day  has  significance.  Five- 
o'clock-in-the-morning  courage  (the  hour  when  very 
many  of  the  German  attacks  began)  is  a  very  differ- 
ent thing  from  that  of  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
and  darkness  and  inclement  weather  are  handicaps. 
Sleep  seems  to  have  something  to  do  with  finishing 

33 


MOKALE 

the  last  and  higher  processes  of  digestion.  While  its 
importance  is  well  appreciated,  something  of  its  psy- 
chology, and  of  the  enormous  function  which  the  con- 
ditioned reflex  is  now  known  to  play,  ought  to  be 
taught  in  every  officers'  training  school. 


THE  MORALE  OF  FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

I.  Morale  and  the  psychology  of  fear  in  war — The  methods  of  its 
conquest — II.  Morale  and  death — The  various  attitudes  of  differ- 
ent types  of  soldiers  to  death — Burials,  graveyards,  and  monu- 
ments— Spiritism — III.  Anger  in  life,  in  literature,  and  its  place 
in  the  present  war. 

I.  The  conquest  of  fear. — From  the  first  rumor  of 
war  and  the  draft  on  to  the  training-camp,  to  the 
trenches,  and  the  charge,  the  chief  feeling  to  be  over- 
come in  all  men,  perhaps  in  proportion  to  their 
intelligence  and  power  of  imagination,  is  fear. 
Cowardice  is  fear  yielded  to ;  bravery  and  courage  are 
fear  controlled.  Fear  is  anticipatory  pain,  and  mortal 
fear  is  of  course  tihe  anticipation  of  death.  Everyone 
has  heard  of  heroes  who  condemned  their  limbs  for 
trembling,  their  heart  for  throbbing,  their  alimentary 
tract  for  revolting,  etc.,  but  the  brave  man  is  he  who 
learns  to  control  all  these  physiological  symptoms 
and  to  do  wthat  he  ought  to  do  in  every  emergency. 
Every  symptom  of  fear  is  met  with  near  the  front  and 
when  battle  impends.  There  is  weakness,  sometimes 
rising  almost  to  paralysis;  unsteadiness  of  move- 
ment; loss  of  appetite;  perhaps  nausea,  indigestion; 
diarrhea  is  very  common;  flushing  and  pallor;  and 
an  instinct  to  cringe  and  dodge  and  show  symptoms 
of  shock  at  everything  unexpected,  often  at  the  very. 

35 


slightest  surprise.  In  action  many  good  men  lose 
control  of  their  muscles  and  become  almost  automata. 
Very  few  soldiers,  indeed,  can  aim  as  well  as  on  the 
rifle  range ,  most  shoot  wildly,  and  some  seem  to  lose 
control  of  the  power  of  loading ;  while  we  are  told  by 
a  number  of  high  authorities  that  many  fall  by  the 
way  from  sheer  terror  and  that  there  are  far  more 
panics,  local  and  even  general,  than  find  their  way 
into  history  or  even  into  official  reports.  Thus  the 
efficiency  of  a  fighting  force  depends  more  largely 
than  hitherto  realized  upon  the  effectiveness  of  the 
methods  of  repressing  or  controlling  the  fear  instinct. 
In  the  German  experience  solid  formations,  advancing 
elbow  to  elbow,  give  a  sense  of  security  that  makes 
men  face  danger  more  easily  than  they  could  in  wide- 
open  formations. 

A  large  part  of  discipline  is  directed  more  and 
more  toward  making  this  control  effective.  Just  in 
proportion  as  obedience  to  orders  becomes  instinctive, 
so  that  their  execution  requires  no  thought;  and  just 
in  proportion  as  shooting,  bayonet  drill,  throwing 
grenades,  and  other  activities  of  the  combat  are  made 
second  nature,  the  chance  of  their  being  done  aright 
at  the  critical  moment  increases  and  the  hazard  of 
acting  wildly  is  diminished.  Facility  in  these  proc- 
esses that  can  thus  be  mechanized  also  gives  a  certain 
degree  of  confidence,  and  the  soldier  feels  that  if  he 
does  lose  his  head,  his  muscles  and  reflex  system  will 
take  up  the  task  of  themselves  and  that  thus  his  de- 
fensive and  even  his  aggressive  power  will  not  be  lost 

36 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

in  the  direst  emergency.  This  is  one  reason  why  drill 
must  be  incessant  and  long-continued,  even  though  in 
trench  warfare  less  direct  use  is  made  of  it.  Another 
reason  is  that  where  many  men  are  doing  the  same 
thing  together  there  arises  a  sense  of  solidarity,  so 
that  each  depends  not  only  on  himself  but  on  others, 
and  the  individual  feels  that  he  is  supported  by  the 
formidaibleness  of  the  group. 

Where  fear  is  yielded  to  with  abandon  almost  any- 
thing may  be  done.  Men  lose  their  orientation  in 
space  and  may  rush  directly  at  the  enemy  instead  of 
fleeing  from  him.  In  panicky  fugues  men  often  tend 
to  flee  over  the  same  course  in  which  they  have  ad- 
vanced, sometimes  going  around  sharp  angles  instead 
of  taking  quicker  cross-cuts  to  safety  because  they 
have  advanced  along  these  angles.  They  throw  away 
their  weapons,  accoutrements,  sometimes  their 
clothes,  and  run  for  incredible  distances,  perhaps 
leaping  into  chasms,  and  are  not  infrequently  subject 
to  illusions  and  hallucinations.  Fear  is  extremely 
infectious.  Often  the  sight  of  a  single  frenzied  fugi- 
tive disconcerts  and  may  disorganize  a  squad  of  coura- 
geous men,  so  that  it  is  very  important  to  eliminate 
those  especially  liable  to  start  panics.  We  are  told 
that  the  sight  of  a  single  individual  fleeing,  with  all 
the  facial,  vocal,  and  other  expressions  of  terror,  is 
more  disquieting  even  to  experienced  troops  than  the 
death  of  those  nearest  them  in  the  ranks  or  a  very  de- 
tructive  fire  of  the  enemy.  We  Have  a  number  of  rec- 
ords of  panic  even  among  horses  in  battles,  which 

37 


MOKALE 

sometimes  attends  and  even  causes  grave  disasters. 

At  home,  too,  fear  is  an  important  ingredient  in 
every  form  of  slackerdom.  It  has  made  many  con- 
scientious objectors  who  never  objected  before  but 
have  extemporized  a  set  of  pacifist  principles  to  cam- 
ouflage their  timidity.  It  is  a  large  ingredient  in  the 
symptoms  of  disease  even  in  somatic  cases,  and  often 
has  a  real  effect  in  retarding  cure,  not  only  of  psychic 
but  physical  traumata,  even  in  the  most  candid  and 
honest  men,  so  deep  in  the  unconscious  does  it  bur- 
row. The  same  explosion  may  cause  shell  shock  in 
the  guards  who  are  conducting  prisoners  back  of  the 
line  and  have  no  such  effect  upon  the  prisoners  them- 
selves, because  they  are  free  from  responsibility  and 
realize  that  they  are  out  of  the  fighting ;  while  the  best 
statistics  tell  us  that  shell  shock  is  from  three  to  four 
times  as  common  among  officers,  who  must  not  only  be 
brave  but  set  examples  to  their  men,  as  it  is  among 
privates.  Many  genuine  cases  of  shell  shock  were 
cured  with  surprising  suddenness  by  the  news  of  the 
cessation  of  war. 

This  shows  that  we  are  all  perhaps  far  more  fear- 
some than  we  know,  that  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion is  so  strong  that  it  percolates  down  through  the 
unconscious  regions  of  the  soul  and  produces  there 
results  which  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  courage, 
even  in  the  bravest. 

Almost  every  important  event  in  the  soldier's  pre- 
vious life  has  a  bearing  upon  liability  to  or  immuni- 
zation from  fear.  On  the  one  hand,  if  a  man  has  been 

33 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

used,  to  taking  large  risks  and  hazards  of  any  kind  in 
civil  life  he  has  a  predisposition  to  take  this  larger 
risk.  Of  course  if  he  has  had  hairbreadth  escapes 
from  danger  he  may,  according  to  his  diathesis,  either 
come  to  feel  that  he  can  safely  play  with  fortune, 
that  he  has  a  good  star  and  the  fates  favor  him,  or 
else  he  may  acquire  a  special  type  of  timidity,  some- 
times of  the  same  and  sometimes  of  other  types  of 
risks  than  those  he  has  incurred.  Again,  even  heredi- 
tary tendencies  may  make  themselves  felt.  If  for  any 
cause  one  has  inherited  or  even  acquired  a  dread  of 
closed  spaces  (claustrophobia),  he  finds  the  trench 
itself  very  trying,  and  this  dread  is  greatly  augmented 
under  bombardment  or  by  expectation  of  attack. 
It  has  been  found,  too,  that  those  who  had  childish 
dreads  of  thunder  storms  find  it  harder  to  control 
their  terror  at  the  detonations  of  big  guns  and  high 
explosives.  Others  have  either  innate  or  acquired 
horror  of  blood  which  perhaps,  like  all  other  predis- 
posing causes,  may  be  overcome,  if  not  too  intense,  or 
may  Incapacitate.  Those  with  dread  of  open  spaces 
find  it  far  harder  to  charge  in  very  wide  open  order 
and  prefer  hills,  trees,  or  even  water  to  the  dead  plain 
across  the  "hell-strip"  between  the  front  lines.1 

1  See  M.  D.  Eder :  War  Shock :  The  Psychoneuroses  in  War  Psy- 
chology and  Treatment,  Lond.,  Heinemann,  1917 ;  John  T.  MacCurdy : 
War  Neuroses,  Psychiatric  Bulletinof  the  N.  Y.  State  Hospital, 
No.  3,  July,  1917;  G.  Elliot  Smith  and  T.  H.  Pear:  War  Shock:  Its 
Lessons,  Manchester,  Univ.  Press,  1917 ;  G.  Rousay  and  J.  Lhermitte : 
The  Psychoneuroses  of  the  War,  Tr.  Lond.,  Univ.  Press,  1918 ; 
J.  F.  Babinski  and  J.  Froment:  Hysteria  or  Pithiatism  and  Reflex 
Nervous  Disorders  in  the  Neurology  of  the  War,  Tr.  Lond.,  Univ. 
Press,  1918;  F.  W.  Mott :  War  Psychoneuroses,  Lond.,  1919;  W.  T. 
Porter:  Shock  at  the  Front,  Bost.,  Atlantic  Mo.,  1918;  W.  H.  R. 

39 


MORALE 

In  general,  every  soldier  realizes  that  he  is  increas- 
ing his  chance  of  death,  and  this  sense  is  the  key  to 
some  of  the  most  interesting  results  which  scientific 
psychology  owes  to  the  war.  It  is  hard  work  and  re- 
quires long  practice  to  be  truly  brave.  The  most  im- 
perative of  all  instincts  is  the  love  of  life,  and  delib- 
erately to  risk  it  involves  severe  nervous  and  mental 
strain.  But  the  consensus  of  mankind  which  despises 
cowardice  is  right,  because  there  is  probably  no  such 
test  of  human  metal  as  whether  or  not  and  how  soon 
and  effectively  the  strongest  of  all  instincts  can  be 
controlled  in  the  interests  of  the  group  or  of  a  great 
cause. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems,  if  not  the  chief  one 
that  overtops  all  others  for  officers  is  how  best,  soon- 
est, and  most  effectively  to  teach  the  control  of  fear. 
This  is  also  a  most  important  problem  for  each  in- 
dividual soldier,  and  how  he  acquits  himself  in  this 
task  is  perhaps  the  best  measure  of  military  efficiency. 
How  can  this  be  done? 

It  is  quite  impossible  at  present  to  enumerate  all 
the  means,  direct  and  indirect,  which  contribute  to 
this  end,  for  there  is  almost  nothing  in  a  soldier's 
activities  or  in  his  environment  that  does  not  in  some 

Rivers :  The  Repression  of  War  Experiences,  Proc.  Royal  Soc.  Med., 
1918:  G.  W.  Crile:  A  Mechanistic  View  of  War  and  Peace,  N.  T., 
Macmillan,  1918;  M.  Dide,  Les  Emotions  et  La  Guerre,  Paris,  Alcan, 
1917;  A  Gemelli:  II  Nostro  Soldato;  Saggi  di  Psicnlogia  Militare: 
Milano,  Treves.  1918;  Andre"  Le"ri:  Shell  Shock:  Ed.  by  Sir  John 
Collie,  Lond.,  Uniy.  Press,  1919;  E.  H.  Southard:  Shell  Shock  and 
Other  Ncuropsychiatric  Problems,  599  Case  Histories  from  War  Liter- 
ature, 1914-18,  Bost.,  1919.  982  pp.  (Bibliography  of  77  p.).  M.  W. 
Brown :  Neuropsychiatry  and  the  War.  A  Bibliography  with  Extracts. 
N.  Y.,  1919.  292  pp.  Jean  Lupine :  Troubles  Mentaum  de  Guerre,  Paris, 
1917. 

40 


FEAE,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

way  bear  upon  it,  and  every  day's  experience  helps  or 
hinders  this  power  of  control.  We  can  only  enumerate 
here  some  of  the  most  general  and  effective  aids. 

1.  When  the  soldier  is  lying  in  the  trenches  under 
heavy  bombardment,  or  when  he  is  on  distant  outpost 
work  in  the  dark,  or  wherever  instinctive  activity,  of 
which  danger  is  the  greatest  stimulus,  is  hindered,  the 
morale  of  courage  can  never  long  survive  if  the  mind 
is  focused  solely  upon  the  peril;  and  here,  then,  we 
see  how  the  soul  invariably  turns  to  the  chief  mechan- 
ism possible  in  such  conditions,  namely,  diversion. 
Any  kind  of  activity  or  occupation  that  takes  the 
thoughts  away  from  the  immediate  danger,  however 
routine  the  work  may  be  and  whether  ordered  or  self- 
enforced — moving  about,  conversation,  cigarettes, 
especially  a  joke,  information  passed  along  the  line 
(which  sometimes  is  designed  only  for  this  end)  even 
some  added  discomfort  like  inrush  of  water  or  the 
necessity  of  digging  out  a  closed  communication,  any- 
thing to  eat  or  drink — all  this  helps  to  relieve,  if  only 
momentarily,  the  strain  which  may  otherwise  be  so 
great  that  the  order  to  go  over  the  top,  even  in  a  grill- 
ing fire,  comes  as  a  relief.  Never  has  the  need  of  di- 
version been  more  recognized  or  more  supplied,  all 
the  way  from  home  to  the  front,  than  for  the  Ameri- 
can soldier  in  this  war,  and  its  power  for  morale  can 
never  be  overestimated.  Of  all  these  diversions  the 
best  are  those  that  involve  the  most  activity,  whether 
of  mind  or  body,  on  the  part  of  the  soldier  himself.  It 
is  far  more  effective  for  him  to  act  in  a  play  or  sing 

41 


MORALE 

in  a  concert  than  to  be  merely  a  spectator  or  listener. 

2.  The  second  corrective  of  fear  is  example.   Of  this 
we  have  had  endless  illustrations.     Even  the  narra- 
tion of  a  brave  deed,  or  a  decoration  for  heroism  con- 
ferred upon  one  whom  a  soldier  knows  is  a  powerful 
incentive  to  emulation,  so  gregarious  is  man.    An  in- 
stance of  it  actually  seen  is,  of  course,  far  more  im- 
pressive.   Hocking  tells  of  a  piper  who  found  a  large 
company  of  men  thrown  on  the  ground,  exhausted  and 
in    despair   and    expecting   annihilation,    who    were 
rallied  by  two  friends,  one  of  whom  marched  up  and 
down  with  a  penny  whistle  while  the  other  ^imitated 
playing  a  drum,  until  the  wearied  men  were  given 
cheer  and  arose,  saying,  "We'll  follow  you  to  hell," 
and  were  finally  led  to  safety.    Here  the  example  of 
the  officer  is,  of  course,  the  most  potent  of  all.    Often 
every  eye  is  upon  him  to  see  if  he  flinches,  hesitates, 
or  wavers.    If  he  is  cool,  most  men  will  follow  him 
anywhere,  so  contagious  is  courage.    In  every  group 
of  soldiers  that  become  well  acquainted  there  are  in- 
dividuals, sometimes  officers  and  sometimes  privates, 
to  whom  in  danger  their  comrades  turn  instinctively 
for  their  cue. 

3.  Some  temperaments  are  able  to  establish  their 
morale  against  fear  by  working  themselves  up  before- 
hand to  a  full  realization  of  their  peril  and  of  the 
chance  of  a  wound  or  even  death,  and  accepting  the 
situation  once  and  for  all.    We  have  the  best  instance 
of  this  that  I  know  of  in  the  records  of  a  number  of 
French  youths.     They  thoroughly  realized  that  they 

42 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  A^GER 

had  entered  upon  a  course  which  might  have  a  fatal 
termination,  and  devoted  themselves  at  the  outset,  as 
martyrs  if  need  be,  to  a  cause  which  was  far  greater 
than  their  own  life.  Having  made  this  great  decision, 
they  found  it  gave  them  strength  and  poise  in  critical 
moments.  Not  very  many,  however,  save  intellectuals, 
and  by  no  means  all  of  them,  are  capable  of  this  type 
of  conscious  self-immolation. 

4.  Far  more  acquire  a  kind  of  fatalism.     Some 
optimists  come  to  believe  that  the  bullet  they  are  to 
stop  has  not  been  cast,  while  more  find  relief  in  the 
sense  that  the  lot  has  already  been  cast  in  the  lap  of 
Fate  and  that  they  are  to  live  or  die  more  or  less 
irrespectively  of  anything  that  they  can  do.    This  is 
akin  to  the  Stoic  fatalism,  the  Mohammedan  kismet, 
or  the  Puritan  will  of  God. 

5.  Some,  probably  by  no  means  as  many  as  church- 
men expected,  find  genuine  nervous  poise  in  a  relig- 
ious belief  in  life  after  death.    This  is  probably  no- 
where near  so  effective  in  modern  armies  as  it  was 
among  the  old  Teutons,  who  believed  in  Walhalla;  or 
among  the  Moslems,  who  held  that  the  dead  warrior 
passes  to  the  lap  of  the  houris  in  Paradise ;  or  in 
Cromwell's    Puritan    "Ironsides."       The    sentiment 
lingers  on,  but  more  in  the  realm  of  poetic  fancy  and 
dim,  vague  feeling  than  in  conscious  conviction.    The 
sense  that  death  will  bring  honor  to  friends,  or  be  a 
sacrifice  which  the  country  or  the  cause  needs,  in- 
volves a  higher  type  of  idealism  than  most  soldiers 
can  make  into  a  very  potent  assuager  of  fear.    Des- 

43 


MOEALE 

pile  all  that  is  said  of  the  glories  of  dying  for  one's 
country  or  for  liberty,  the  analyses  that  have  been 
made  of  patriotism  show  it  to  be  a  complex  of  many 
elements  but  not  yet  of  prime  significance  to  this  end. 

6.  Probably  the  chief  and  most  practical  factor  in 
the  conquest  of  fear  is  familiarity.  Long  before  he 
actually  smells  powder,  the  soldier's  fancy  irresistibly 
dwells  much  upon  his  possible  wounds  or  death,  while 
as  soon  as  he  iiears  the  front  he  sees  the  victims  of 
battle  all  about  him  and  even  sees  his  friends  and  com- 
rades fall.  He  serves  his  turn  on  the  burial  squad  and 
has  to  bring  back  the  dead  and  wounded  to  the  rear. 
This  gives  a  certain  immunizing  callousness  to  it  all, 
and  he  becomes  very  familiar  with  the  thought  that 
he  may  be  the  next  victim  and  so  accepts  the  fact 
with  growing  equanimity.  The  seasoned  fighter  learns 
to  fight  on  even  though  his  mates  are  falling  on  all 
sides  in  death  or  agony.  Human  nature  can  get  used 
to  anything,  and  wont  raises  the  threshold  of  temi- 
bility  higher  than  anything  else. 

II.  Morale  and  death. — In  peace  death  and  every- 
thing connected  with  it  has  always  been  the  most 
solemn  of  all  themes.  The  sick-  and  the  death-bed, 
the  last  tender  services,  the  final  breath,  the  closing 
of  the  eyes,  pallor,  coldness,  the  preparation  of  the 
body,  the  shroud,  coffin,  funeral,  entombment,  and 
mourning,  with  all  its  depression  and  its  trappings, — 
all  these  things  make  a  supreme  appeal  to  the  human 
heart  and  mind.  The  transition  from  warm  and  ac- 
tive life  to  a  putrefying  corpse  has  always  shocked 

44 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

the  human  soul  as  nothing  else  lias  had  the  power  to 
do.  Every  known  savage  tribe  sooner  or  later  puts 
its  dead  away  because  the  mind  and  the  senses  of  man 
cannot  endure  the  phenomena  of  decomposition. 
Hence  interment,  cremation,  burial  in  water,  desicca- 
tion in  air,  towers  of  silence,  are  all  to  disguise  or  di- 
vert the  soul  from  this  supreme  horror.  Sepulchers, 
monuments,  cairns,  pyramids,  and  epitaphs,  are  also 
disguises  (Deckphenomene) ,  just  as  our  customs  in 
dress  from  the  primitive  fig-leaf,  and  also  personal 
adornments  and  toilet  and  marriage  ceremonials, 
have  as  one  of  their  motives  the  diversion  of  attention 
from  the  organs  and  functions  of  sex  to  other  parts  of 
the  body  or  to  secondary  sex  qualities.  Many  tell  us 
that  the  prime  motive  for  a  belief  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  a  soul,  that  it  survives  the  body,  and  that  its 
fate  may  be  more  or  less  followed  through  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  a  future  life,  was  to  distract  attention  from 
rotting  carrion  to  a  more  beautiful  set  of  images,  and 
to  relieve  the  shock  of  the  primitive  fear  that  death 
had  ended  all.  All  funeral  rites  serve  two  contrasted 
ends.  On  the  one  hand,  they  either  help  us  to  realize 
that  our  friends,  whose  death  perhaps  we  have  not  per- 
sonally seen,  are  really  dead,  which  is  so  hard  for  us 
to  conceive,  and  that  they  will  return  to  us  at  least  in 
the  form  of  dreams  unless  the  ghosts  are  thus  laid ;  or 
else  they  are  to  turn  away  our  thoughts  from  the 
physical  phenomena  of  the  decay  of  the  flesh  to  mem- 
ories and  hopes,  and  to  mitigate  the  shock  by  a  com- 
pensatory belief  that  some  part  of  the  dead  yet  lives. 

45 


War  brings  not  only  the  community  but  especially 
the  soldier  to  a  radically  different  view  of  death.  He 
is  not  only  liable  to  see  his  comrades  mutilated  in 
every  conceivable  way  and  pass  in  a  moment  from  the 
most  intense  life  to  the  most  agonizing  death,  but  he 
must  often  himself  gather  the  mangled  fragments  of 
the  bodies  of  his  comrades,  and  sometimes,  in  excava- 
tions or  by  the  disentombments  caused  by  shells,  en- 
visage every  stage  of  decomposition  of  those  previ- 
ously interred  in  ways  that  Barbusse2  has  so  grue- 
somely  described  but  which  even  pictorial  artists  for 
bear  to  portray.  Thus  to  the  soldier  every  kind  ol 
camouflage  of  death  is  rudely  torn  away,  and  he  meets 
it  in  all  its  ghastliness  at  first  hand.  Not  only  this, 
but  while  in  peace  murder  is  the  worst  of  all  crimes, 
it  now  becomes  the  chief  of  all  duties,  for  to  kill  is 
the  goal  of  all  his  training  and  preparation.  He  must 
inflict  death  with  all  its  horrible  sequels  upon  as  many 
of  the  foe  as  possible.  Worst  of  all,  in  some  sense,  is 
the  fact  that  whereas  in  civil  life  death  usually  comes 
to  the  old,  the  weak,  or  the  sick,  and  occurs  only  at 
rare  intervals  to  those  we  know  and  love,  now  it  sud- 
denly sweeps  off  masses  of  the  strongest  and  best  in 
the  very  prime  of  life.  This  brings  death  home  to  the 
soldier  and  the  community  in  a  far  closer  way.  The 
soldier  must  harden  himself  to  all  this  at  short  notice 
as  best  he  can  and  to  such  a  degree  that  his  efficiency 
be  not  abated,  his  courage  fail,  or  his  spirits  droop. 
This  is  the  acme  of  all  the  strains  put  upon  his  morale. 

'Under  Fire..   Tr.,  Lend.,  Dent,  1917. 

46 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

The  responses,  both  conscious  and  unconscious,  to 
this  situation  are  manifold,  and  psychology  is  not  yet 
able  to  evaluate  or  even  tabulate  them  all. 

1.  A  few,  as  we  have  seen,  react  by  bravado.    They; 
affect  to  laugh  death  in  the  face,  and  make  ghastly, 
jests  about  the  most  agonizing   of  all  these  experi- 
ences.   With  some  temperaments  this  initial  affecta- 
tion of  callousness  is  so  instinctive  and  often  effective 
a  method  of  hardening  a  soul  to  travel  this  viaticum 
of  woe  that  we  must  not  condemn  it  without  some  of 
the  insight  that  sympathy  with  the  dire  need  of  this 
emergency  can  bring. 

2.  Others  develop  the  impressions  and  convictions 
of  their  early  religious  teaching  and  are  more  or 
less  steadied  by  a  belief,  or  at  least  a  hope,  that  if 
their  bodies  die  there  is  an  immortal  part  that  will 
not  only  survive  but  meet  a  reward  in  some  "boat- 
house  on  the  Styx/'    This  inveterate  instinct  undoubt- 
edly acts  unconsciously  and  buoys  up  many  a  heart 
without  any  very  conscious  conviction  and  without 
any  form  of  outer  expression,  for  the  soldier  thinks  it 
cowardly  to  revert  suddenly  to  a  faith  which  he  has 
neglected  through  all  his  post-adolescent  years.   Only 
poets  and  spiritualists  or  pronounced  religionists  are 
able  to  formulate  these  anticipations  of  personal  im- 
mortality, or  even  to  conceive  that  the  souls  of  those 
who  die  continue  to  strive  above,  as  in  Kaulbach's  fa- 
mous cartoon,  or  that  they  go  either  to  Walhalla  or 
to  the  houris.    The  latter  view  is  so  in  line  with  the 
deep  instinct  to  find  in  love  compensation  for  the 

47 


MORALE 

hardships  of  war  that  it  makes  this  creed  perhaps  the 
ideal  one  for  the  soldier.  No  doubt  the  experiences  of 
war  tend  to  develop  at  least  secretly  every  such  pro- 
clivity where  it  exists,  and  this  has  been  best  and  most 
sublimely  expressed  in  the  often  very  confessional 
memoirs  and  letters  of  French  soldiers. 

3.  Many,  however,  if  not  most  soldiers  to-day,  re- 
fuse consciously  to  come  to  very  definite  terms  with 
the  problem    of    their  own  death  but  only  feel,  as 
Winifred  Kirkland*  well  puts  it,  that  somehow  their 
immolation,  if  the  worst  comes,  will  not  be  in  vain 
and  that  their  influence  will  be  some  kind  of  a  perva- 
sive power  for  good,  even  if  it  works  impersonally  and 
sub  specie  aeternitalis.    Their  life  is  so  intense  and 
their  effort  so  strenuous  that  the  merit  of  it  all  cannot 
be  entirely  lost.  They  are  on  the  path  to  glory  and  it 
cannot  all  end  in  nothingness,  even  if  oblivion  close 
over  their  personality.     Somewhere,  somehow  in  the 
cosmic  order  their  life  and  death  will  not  have  been 
in  vain. 

4.  It  is  the  very  fact  of  the  soldier's  super-vitality- 
and-activity,  which  means  the  farthest  possible  re- 
move from  death,  that  makes  so  many  soldiers  opti- 
mistic fatalists  and  causes  them  to  feel  if  notthatthey 
have  a  charmed  life  that  they  will  somehow  escape. 
The  glow  and  tingle,  and  perhaps  especially  the  ere- 
thism of  war,  often  make  the  healthy  soldier  feel  that 
he  has  too  strong  a  hold  upon  life  for  death  to  be  able 
to  stop  him. 

'The  New  Death,  Boston,  1918. 

48 


PEAK,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

There  are  more  than  three  hundred  distinct  grave- 
yards definitely  set  apart  for  the  dead  in  the  three 
hundred  miles  that  vStretch  from  Flanders  to  Switzer- 
land, which  is  thus  itself  to-day  the  world's  greatest 
cemetery.  More  and  more  friends  at  home  feel  as 
Harry  Lauder  did  about  his  son — that  he  ought  al- 
ways to  rest  in  this  vast  field  of  glory,  and  many 
writers  have  expressed  the  belief  that  these  "God's 
acres"  should  henceforth  and  forever  be  too  hallowed 
for  any  armies  to  fight  over  and  ought  to  be  more  de- 
fensive than  fortifications.  In  the  early  stages  of  the 
war  many  who  were  buried  here,  often  uncoffined,  in 
trenches  near  where  they  fell,  and  perhaps  sewed  in  a 
brown  army  blanket  with  a  Union  Jack  laid  over 
them,4  will  never  be  identified.  Not  a  few  of  these 
earlier  cemeteries  had  their  crosses  or  inverted  bottles, 
containing  the  names  of  the  soldiers,  torn  away,  while 
very  many  bodies  were  disinterred  by  the  shell  fire  of 
later  engagements,  and  many  trenches  had  to  be  run 
through  them  without  involving  reburials.  But  since 
then  every  effort  has  been  made  by  special  organiza- 
tions in  ea.ch  of  the  allied  countries  to  preserve  the 
identity  of  every  fallen  soldier  no  matter  how  mauso- 
lized  his  body  was.  In  England  a  Graves  Registra- 
tion Commission  under  General  Fabian  Ware  was 
appointed,  which  sought  to  trace  everyone  from  the 
last  time  he  was  seen  to  his  final  resting  place,  and  to 
send  information  and  souvenirs  to  his  relatives.  Iden- 

4  The  Care  of  the  Dead,  London,  1916.  See  also  Lord  Northcliffe : 
At  the  War,  in  the  chapter  "Search  for  the  Missing,"  and  Alfred  Ney : 
Le  Droit  des  Morts  (1918),  with  70  photographs  of  graves. 

49 


MORALE 

tification  was  later  stamped  on  an  aluminum  tape, 
and  the  exact  site  of  each  grave  entered  in  a  register. 
There  are  various  kinds  of  wooden  and  iron  markers, 
with  separate  lots  for  Orientals.  These  registration 
units  have  done  much  to  bind  France  and  England. 
When  the  English  came  the  French  said,  "We  leave 
you  our  trenches  and  our  dead,"  and  have  given  the 
English  permanent  cemeteries.  The  desire  by  the 
friends  for  assurance  that  their  dead  have  found  a 
grave,  that  it  is  being  tended,  and  that  they  "lie  com- 
fortable"— all  this  is  now  very  effectively  taken  care  of 
by  voluntary  means,  and  here  the  Red  Cross  has  done 
some  of  its  best  work,  verifying  records  and  affixes 
with  dates,  collecting  everything  found  on  the  body 
and  sending  it  to  relatives,  and  answering  every  in- 
quiry possible. 

Major  Pierce  was  given  complete  charge  of  our 
Graves  Registration  Bureau,  which  marks  and  erects 
crosses,  uses  a  symbolic  medallion,  and  photographs 
graves  collectively  and  individually  for  the  next  of 
kin.  It  is  more  and  more  felt  to  be  a  blessed  service  to 
rescue  from  obscurity  those  who  have  fallen.  Larger 
monuments  are  to  be  erected  by  the  different  coun- 
tries, and  an  international  federation  has  been  estab- 
lished to  develop  military  sculptures  for  them.  Land 
was  permanently  given  by  the  French  to  the  Ameri- 
can Expeditionary  Force,  and  several  of  the  larger 
plots  have  been  fenced  and  posted  while  smaller  ones 
were  arranged  near  the  front,  with  a  unit  of  two  of- 
ficers and  fifty  men  provided  for  each  divisional  ceme- 

50 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

tery,  the  size  of  these  units  to  be  increased  when  nec« 
essary. 

Provision  is  made  in  all  countries  to  separate  if 
possible  the  dead  of  the  enemy  from  those  of  the  home 
army.  In  Germany  great  attention  is  given  to  this 
subject,  and  competitions  have  also  been  instituted 
for  the  best  tombs  for  individuals  and  for  public 
group  monuments.5  Some  of  these  plans  are  most 
striking  and  seem  to  us  in  shocking  taste.  Some  are 
high  mounds  like  those  of  the  Vikings  for  burying 
men  in  mass  on  the  battle-field.  Some  are  solemn  mau- 
soleums, others  circular  enclosures;  some  suggest 
cairns,  pyramids,  towers;  one  is  a  solid  block-house; 
many  have  swords,  spears,  and  helmets,  while  the  iron 
cross  is  very  common.  From  one  a  dozen  tall  parallel 
spears  emerge.  Metal  insignia  often  half  cover  the 
stone  work.  One  vast  tree-shaped  monument  is  cov- 
ered with  individual  placques.  The  characters  are 
often  runic.  One  shows  two  rows  of  hands,  twelve  in 
all,  each  bearing  an  upright  sword. 

As  to  mourning,  President  Wilson  approved  the 
recommendations  of  the  Woman's  Committee  of  The 
Council  of  National  Defense  that  three-inch  black 
bands  be  worn  whereon  a  gilt  star  might  be  placed  for 
each  member  of  the  family  who  lost  his  life  in  the 
service.  England  was  the  first  to  advocate  simpler 
mourning  and  the  restrictions  of  cr£pe.  Even  in  the 
Boer  War,  Queen  Victoria  suggested  that  the  morale 
of  the  people  might  be  improved  by  less  black.  Franca 

*  Soldatengraler   und  Kriegsdenkmale.    Wien,   1915. 

51 


MORALE 

followed  to  some  extent  this  movement  in  England, 
and  leaders  of  fashion  there  did  much  to  simplify 
mourning  and  to  make  the  hat,  the  veil,  shoes,  and 
dress  less  ultra-fashionable.  This  movement,  while  it 
has  impressed  itself  somewhat  upon  ultra-fashion- 
ables, has  had  a  far  more  beneficent  effect  on  the 
women  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  who  desire  to 
show  in  their  habiliments  the  sorrow  they  so  pro- 
foundly feel  but  lack  means  or  are  engaged  in  occu- 
pations which  make  ceremonial  mourning  difficult. 

Cora  Harris  has  written  a  mystical  story  of  Lee  and 
Grant  and  other  great  fighters  of  our  Civil  War  going 
to  Prance  in  spiritual  shape,  hovering  above  the  regi- 
ments and  guiding  the  brain  and  nerving  the  heart  of 
the  novice.  She  might  have  gone  farther  and  imag- 
ined Washington,  Jackson,  Paul  Jones,  Lafayette, 
and  also  very  many  of  the  heroes  of  defeat  (see  W.  J. 
Armstrong's  The  Heroes  of  Defeat,  Cincinnati,  1905) 
thus  aiding  our  troops.  It  is  well  to  remember  here 
that  many  believe  that  the  gods  themselves  were  orig- 
inally worshiped  as  ancestors,  and  that  in  the  code  of 
the  Japanese  bushido  the  dead  were  a  tremendous 
power  in  her  war  with  Russia.  We  should  do  far  more 
than  we  do  now  "lest  we  forget."  The  best  memorial 
to  the  dead  is  to  carry  on  their  work,  and  there  are 
many  who  believe  that  this  country  in  its  past  has 
gone  farther  than  any  other  toward  ignoring  what  it 
owes  to  those  who  have  given  their  lives  that  we  may 
be  free  and  prosperous.  Most  that  we  are  able  to  do 
we  owe  to  ancient  benefactors,  the  memory  of  far  too 

52 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

many  of  whom  has  perished  from  among  men.  While, 
therefore,  we  may  be  less  certain  of  personal  survival 
and  reward  in  another  world  for  those  who  die  in  a 
great  cause,  we  can  do  very  much  to  give  them  a  com- 
pensatory mundane  immortality  that  must  make  a 
powerful  appeal  to  every  soul  capable  of  loyalty  and 
devotion  to  a  cause  greater  than  himself.  From  all 
this  we  see  that  the  morale  of  those  who  go  out  never 
to  return,  and  whose  last  words,  whatever  they  were, 
we  shall  tend  to  cherish  as  a  kind  of  morituri  saluta- 
mus,  as  well  as  that  of  their  survivors  in  the  field  and 
at  home,  has  no  more  fitting  index  than  the  way  in 
which  those  who  have  met  the  great  defeat  are  en- 
shrined in  our  memory. 

The  only  meaning  of  the  new  death  is  how  it  affects 
life.  To  the  philosopher  who  sees  and  knows  that 
there  is  nothing  beyond  the  grave,  fictions  about  the 
soul's  future  have  a  very  high  and  a  very  diverse  but 
a  solely  pragmatic  value.  We  know  nothing  whatever 
about  it  and  probably  never  can.  Death  is  simply  the 
great  tabula  rasa  on  which  the  imagination  of  every 
race,  creed,  and  even  individual  paints,  and  to  the 
very  few  who  can  think  unselfishly  about  it  the  holo- 
caust of  war  only  intensifies  the  consciousness  of 
nescience.  It  is  the  great  void  in  which  the  intellect 
discerns  nothing  but  total  blackness  but  which  feel- 
ing, wishes,  fear,  and  fancy  always  people  with  their 
creations;  and  these  creations  do  profoundly  affect 
our  lives  and  also  the  way  in  which  we  meet  the 
thought  or  the  reality  of  our  own  death.  It  is  these 

53 


MORALE 

creations  that  war  stimulates  and  makes  very  real.6 
The  soldier's  attitude  toward  death  is  often  very 
fluctuating;  it  varies  inversely  with  the  love  of  life. 
Sometimes  when  in  great  depression  he  exposes  him- 
self, hoping  that  a  bullet  will  bring  surcease  from  all 
his  troubles  and  feeling  that  death  would  be  a  most 
welcome  relief.  The  scholarly  soldier  asks  what  is 
the  use  of  all  his  study  if  he  is  to  be  cut  off.  If  there 
is  a  future  life  it  must  be  a  rather  drab  platonic  com- 
munion with  ideas  which  is  more  suggestive  of  death 
than  life,  as  Plato  defined  philosophy  as  the  love  and 
cult  of  death.  Again,  the  young  man  feels  that  he  has 
done  too  little  to  justify  his  survival  and  perhaps  finds 
comfort  in  the  face  of  death  in  the  conviction  that  he 
never  will.  Again,  he  revolts  at  the  prospect  of  his 

•The  best  collection  of  data  illustrating  this  is  found  in  Maurice 
Barres*  The  Faith  of  France  (Chapter  X)  where  he  prints  the  sys- 
tematically collected  letters  of  many  young  French  soldiers  who 
wrote  down  their  own  thoughts  and  feelings  about  death  and  later 
suffered  it,  to  each  of  which  he  adds  his  own  comments.  See  also 
Lettres  d'un  Soldat  (Paris,  1916,  164p.)  by  an  anonymous  painter,  a 
solitary  and  obscure  genius  who,  like  Olivier  in  Holland's  Jean 
Christophe,  every  day  made  in  mind  the  supreme  sacrifice.  Even  in 
the  trench  and  under  fire  he  brooded  on  the  beauty  of  the  starry 
night,  dawn,  etc.  The  macabre  of  battle  could  not  keep  his  spirits 
down.  His  intellect  found  little  stimulus  in  war  but  his  spontaneous 
emotions  filled  his-  soul  to  overflowing.  Thus  the  soul  tends  to  heal 
its  own  wounds  like  a  skillful  surgeon,  often  even  while  the  critical 
faculties  looking  coldly  on  know  that  these  are  only  consolations. 
See  also  P.  Bourget's  Le  Sens  de  la  Mort,  wherein  the  skeptical  sur- 
geon, Dr.  Ortigue,  dying  of  cancer  and  knowing  death  to  be  extinc- 
tion, operates  in  his  hospital  at  the  front  till  the  end.  His  words 
and  example  bring  his  far  younger  wife  to  share  his  belief  and  to  vow 
to  commit  suicide  with  him  in  the  end.  She  is  saved,  however,  from 
this  after  he  dies  by  the  example  of  a  wounded  young  soldier  who 
dies  like  a  true  Christian  extending  the  crucifix  over  her.  The  faith 
of  this  hero  overcame  the  skepticism  of  the  scientist  and  the  young 
wife  promises  to  live.  A  still  more  sublimated  and  ecstatic  faith  is 
found  in  Borsi's  A  Soldier's  Confidences  with  God;  A  Spiritual 
Colloquy  (1918).  Other  books  on  this  subject  are  L.  de  Grandmaison's 
Impressions  de  Guerre  de  Pretres  Soldats  (1916),  and  L.  Bloy's 
Meditation's  d'un  Solitaire  (1916). 

54 


FEAE,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

nappy  youth  so  tragically  and  suddenly  closed.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  he  has  been  good,  he  rejoices  that  he 
may  be  cut  off  before  age  with  its  temptations  can 
spoil  him,  feeling  perhaps  that  he  is  better  now  than 
he  will  ever  be  again.  He  has  accomplished  little  in 
the  world  and  perhaps  his  whole  existence  is  to  be 
futile  and  vacant.  Then  he  alternates  to  a  kind  of 
animal  hatred  of  death.  Later  he  may  avow  atheism 
and  think  that  those  w*ho  share  that  belief  and  the 
mystics  are  more  truly  religious  than  the  Christians. 
Thus  the  soldier  in  his  secret  soul  is  prone  under  the 
stimulus  of  impending  death  to  develop  the  germinal 
attitudes  of  about  every  philosophy  and  creed,  one 
after  another,  flitting  from  positive  to  negative  views 
according  to  his  mood  or  the  changing  circumstances 
of  war.  Scattered  through  the  confessional  books  of 
soldiers  we  can  already  find  abundant  examples  of 
this,  and  it  would  be  easy,  if  there  were  space,  to  col- 
lect an  anthology  to  illustrate  it,  although  it  more 
often  takes  place,  especially  in  more  uneducated  and 
inarticulate  souls,  rather  below  than  above  the  thresh- 
old of  consciousness.  But  it  is  certain  that  the  war 
has  stimulated  active  souls  to  repeat  in  the  often  un- 
plummeted  depths  of  their  feeling  about  all  the  efforts 
that  man  has  made  to  come  to  terms  with  the  King 
of  Terrors.7 

As  I  write  (February,  1920),  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  a 
notable  British  physicist  best  known  for  his  studies 

'Arthur  Graeme  West:  The  Diary  of  a  Dead  Officer.  This  sol- 
dier in  his  letters  and  poems  illustrates  more  of  these  moods  than 
any  other  I  have  found,  but  it  is  most  common  in  French  memoirs. 

55    * 


MORALE 

of  the  ether,  bereaved  by  the  loss  of  his  son  in  the  war, 
is  making  a  very  popular  and  lucrative  tour  of  this 
country,  propagating  a  kind  of  spiritism  which  Sir 
Edward  Clodd  says  "drags  into  the  mire  whatever 
lofty  conceptions  of  a  spiritual  world  have  been 
framed  by  mortals."  He  tells  us  that  spirits  have 
bodies  of  the  same  size  and  form  as  ours  and  that  in 
their  world,  which  for  most  of  them  is  neither  Heaven 
nor  Hell,  there  are  "animals,  trees,  and  flowers'*  and 
also  other  things  which  cannot  be  told  of  in  the  vo- 
cabulary of  earth,  because  speech  is  more  or  less  of 
a  nonconductor  in  these  interworld  conversations. 
We  all  have  two  bodies,  according  to  Sir  Oliver,  and 
the  spiritual,  post  mortem  body  at  first  finds  the  next 
world  very  like  ours;  but  as  evolution  rules  in  the 
world  of  spirits  as  well  as  in  ours,  there  are  no 
breaks,  and  as  time  passes,  most  spirits  grow  ab- 
sorbed in  their  own  environment  and  lose  touch  with 
ours  unless  they  visit  us  on  missionary  tours.  His 
lectures  and  prestige  have  caused  an  extraordinary 
revival  of  cults  of  the  occult,  and  demands  for  even 
the  ouija  board,  which  he  has  made  a  fad,  have  sud- 
denly far  outrun  the  supply,  while  the  sanctums  of 
mediums  and  fortune-tellers  are  crowded  as  never 
before,  especially  by  those  who  have  lost  dear  ones  in 
the  war.  Long  ago  the  Catholic,  and  lately  the  Eng- 
lish church  protested  against  this  strange  recrudes- 
cence of  the  quintessence  of  all  the  superstitions  of  the 
past,  of  which  ghost  cults  are  the  very  core  and  of 
which,  strange  to  say,  nearly  all  the  modern  scientific 

56 


FEAE,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGEK 

victims  are  physicists,  who  have  failed  to  heed  the 
good  old  precept,  "Physics  beware  of  metaphysics." 
It  is  a  consolation  for  mourners  to  feel  that  their  dear 
ones  are  still  near,  and  it  is  a  cheap  and  easy  method 
to  encourage  this  belief  as  a  sort  of  pragmatic  first- 
aid  to  scab  or  bind  up  the  wounds  of  death.  Why  not 
let  survivors  cherish  so  fond  a  wish  and  believe  it 
true  if  it  have  real  therapeutic  value-  The  dead  do 
live  on  in  memory  and  in  the  influence  of  their  deeds 
and  words,  and  we  may  hope  that  they  love  us  beyond 
the  bourn.  But  the  true  comforter  teaches  survivors 
to  live  without  them,  to  close  up  ranks  and  "'carry 
on"  till  we,  too,  cross  the  "great  divide."  To  bring 
them  back  is  regressive  and  degenerative  for  both 
them  and  us.  It  is  not  to  take  up  their  tasks  but  to 
burden  them  with  ours.  It  is  psychologically  akin 
to  the  necrophilism  which  cannot  part  with  corpses. 
It  is  to  camouflage  the  grim  fact  of  death  and  to  help 
mourners  to  flee  from,  rather  than  to  face  its  reality 
courageously.  The  position  of  the  Protestant  church 
in  this  country  ought  to  be  clear  and  articulate  on 
this  theme,  but  it  is  not,  and  its  clergy  are  too  proue 
to  fall  into  the  old,  cheap,  and  easy  way  of  minister- 
ing to  the  afflicted,  not  realizing  that  in  so  doing  they 
are  opening  the  doors  to  a  superstition  that  is  as  old 
as  the  cave-man  and  as  persistent  as  rudimentary 
organs. 

Conservative  England,  which  best  of  all  countries 
in  the  world  illustrates  the  dual  housekeeping  of  a 
Diesseits  and  a  Jenseits,  is  naturally  the  world's 

57 


MORALE 

chief  breeding-ground  of  (and  as  produced  through 
the  Psychic  Research  Society)  the  most  subtle  and 
pervasive  examples  of  this  other-worldness.  No- 
where have  intelligent  people  found  it  so  hard  to  see 
that  the  only  real  phenomena  here  are  subjective  and 
not  objective,  and  been  so  prone  to  ignore  the  warn- 
ing of  Kant,  who  after  reading  Swedenborg  refused 
to  accept  "the  dreams  of  a  visionary  interpreted  by 
theories  of  a  metaphysician."  To  this  predilection 
for  dual  housekeeping  we  must  attribute  not  only 
British  religiosity  and  the  long  lack  of  rapport  with 
the  Teutonic  mind,  which  from  Wundt  to  Freud  has 
contributed  so  much,  but  the  backwardness  and  un- 
productivity  of  the  English  mind,  as  a  whole,  in  psy- 
chology, and  its  tendency  to  regard  all  psychological 
questions  from  the  standpoint  of  philosophy  rather 
than  as  matters  of  purely  empirical  science. 

In  this  country  cultured  and  half-cultured  Greater 
Boston,  too,  has  always  been  uniquely  susceptible  to 
cults  that  tend  to  split  or  dualize  the  soul.  In  Puri- 
tan days  the  other  world  stood  over  against  this  in 
the  sharpest  contrast,  and  both  were  really  real.  The 
Concord  transcendentalists  refined  but  in  no  degree 
lessened  this  contrast.  Then  came  the  circa  ten  years 
of  the  Concord  summer  school,  in  which  W.  T.  Harris 
and  his  group  sought  to  graft  upon  Emersonianism 
an  exotic  German  idealism.  Spiritism  here  centered 
in  Boston,  with  its  two  chief  journals;  and  so  later 
did  Eddyism  and  Emmanuelism.  The  faltering  but 
profoundly  sympathetic  attitude  of  William  James, 

58 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

who  died  just  before  the  psychanalytic  movement  was 
felt  in  this  country,  helped  greatly  to  prepare  the 
soil  for  Sir  Oliver  and  writers  like  King,  Bond, 
Cameron,  Hill,  Hyslop,  et  al.  Like  the  medieval 
church  Sir  Oliver  preaches  a  domain  of  faith  and  in- 
tuition over  against  that  of  science  and  reason.  All 
church-goers  exercise  a  kind  of  flight  from  modern 
reality  on  Sundays,  but  Greater  Boston  has  long 
since  learned  to  do  so  on  week-days  as  well.  Hence 
mystic  cults,  crystal  gazing,  automatic  writing,  etc., 
are  symptoms  of  mental  dissociation.  When  the  in- 
hibitions of  true  culture  that  always  tend  to  repress 
spiritism  are  lessened  by  respectable  advocacy  and 
put  in  modern  terms,  it  becomes  a  veritable  Poti- 
phar's  wife  to  which  all  adherents  of  double  stand- 
ards of  mental  housekeeping,  like  Sir  Oliver,  prove 
no  Joseph. 

To  form  an  intelligent  opinion  in  this  field  one 
must  have  the  following  essential  qualifications: 

1.  He  must  have  a  knowledge  of  what  sleight  of 
hand  can  do.  The  magician  Keller  claimed  to  be 
able  to  perform  every  one  of  the  so-called  physical 
phenomena  of  spiritism  by  natural  means,  though 
many  who  witnessed  him  insisted  that  he  was  really 
aided  by  spirits  and  was  a  traitor  to  them  because 
he  would  not  acknowledge  it.  Practically  all  medi- 
ums who  deal  with  physical  phenomena  fall  back  on 
some  of  these  tricks,  at  least,  if  the  spirits  do  not 
work,  and  whoever  heard  of  even  an  amateur  presti- 
digitator who  accepted  the  spiritist  creed! 

59 


MORALE 

2.  The  investigator  must  know   border-line  psy- 
chology, of  which  a  good  introduction  would  be  the 
story  of  the  wonderful  performances  of  the  German 
horse,  Hans,  before  it  was  found  to  be  muscle-reading, 
as  all  mind-reading  is.    One  must  understand  hypno- 
gogic  and  hypnopompic  states;   hallucinations,  indi- 
vidual and  collective;  what  the  imagination,  and  at- 
tention writh  its  tonic  cramps  can  do ;  the  psychology 
of  doubles  and  imaginary  companions,  often  supple- 
mental in  character;  something  of  those  cases  of  in- 
sanity which  begin  in  belief  in  transcendental  person- 
ages and  energies  and  end  as  these  beliefs  clear  up; 
hypnotism ;  and  all  the  rest. 

3.  He  must  know  normal  psychology,  and  most  of 
all  the  unconscious,  wherein  live  and  move  all  the 
primitive  springs  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  in  which 
are  recorded  all  man's  individual  and  phyletic  experi- 
ences from  his  savage  and  animal  ancestors.    He  must 
realize  how  prone  men  are  to  believe  with  the  heart, 
which  often  leads  them  to  the  crudest  credo  quia  ab- 
surdum. 

.What  up-to-date  psychologist  of  repute  believes  in 
spiritism  or  can  follow  the  Tabulations  of  Sir  Oliver? 
Again,  the  messages  are  inane  and  trivial.  Those  that 
purport  to  come  from  great  minds  from  Washington 
down  to  Roosevelt  suggest  that  these  noble  souls  are 
in  various  stages  of  decrepitude  not  to  say  decomposi- 
tion. What  have  any  of  them  ever  added  to  our  knowl- 
edge? All  the  mediums  I  have  tested  will  bring  fic- 
titious and  impossible  personalities  to  the  spiritual 

60 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

end  of  the  phone  just  as  readily  as  they  do  real  per- 
sonages. 

Of  all  this  Sir  Oliver  knows  nothing,  and  in  the 
narrow  field  left  him  his  views  are  naive  and  poetic, 
and  he  relies  solely  on  his  own  personal  intuition 
and  refuses  to  take  notice  of  any  criticism.  He  be- 
lieves in  a  universal  ether,  as  do  most  physicists,  as 
something  diffused  through  all  space,  more  real  than 
matter,  which  was  secreted  or  precipitated  from  it 
and  to  which  all  physical  things  are  porous.  Out  of 
it  all  worlds  and  all  that  is  in  them  came,  and  into  it 
they  will  be  resolved.  This  is  hidden  to  sense,  which 
can  only  apprehend  corporeal  forms  of  existence, 
which  are  not  really  real.  But  it  is  revealed  to  a  few 
seers. 

Now,  ether  is  the  modern  conception  which  all  the 
ontologists  from  Parmenides  to  Hegel  anticipated  in 
their  ideas  of  the  pure  and  primal  being,  which  is 
equal  to  nothing  because  no  predicates,  save  negative 
ones,  can  be  assigned  to  it.  It  is  not  unlike  Spinoza's 
Substance  or  the  Indie  Nirvana.  But  all  such  con- 
ceptions have  always  been  and  must  forever  be  pan- 
theistic. The  corollary  of  them  all  is  absorption,  in- 
cluding personality,  into  the  One  and  All.  It  knows 
nothing  of  any  form  or  limit  and  is  homogeneous. 
Thus  to  admit  that  it  is  the  medium  in  which  spirits 
live,  move,  and  have  their  being  is  to  destroy  its  very 
nature,  and  also  to  make  our  knowledge  of  it  depend- 
ent upon  our  knowledge  of  the  somatology  and  psy- 
chology of  spirits. 

61 


MOKALE 

Again,  Sir  Oliver  believes  in  the  preexistence  of 
souls,  as  Plato  did,  and  which  he  seems  to  think  nec- 
essarily involved  in  the  belief  in  their  postexistence. 
Children  come  into  the  world  haunted  by  prenatal 
reminiscences,  as  Wordsworth  thought,  but  lose  them 
slowly  with  advancing  years  as  the  "shades  of  the 
prison-house"  close  in  about  them.  The  brain  is  a 
•'"screen"  which  keeps  out  supermundane  experiences, 
and  men  were  made  thus  blind  to  celestial  things 
that  they  might  not  be  ravished  by  them  but  "stick 
to  their  job"  of  living  out  their  lives  here  and  now. 
To  this  the  answer  we  deem  both  obvious  and  over- 
whelming. All  these  vestigial  intimations  of  a  higher 
life  in  infancy  are  perfectly  explained  in  modern 
padology  as  due  to  the  larger  racial  and  hereditary 
momenta  developed  in  the  long  experience  of  the  hu- 
man stirps  and  its  animal  forbears  which  tend  to  crop 
out  in  tender  years  because  childhood  is  older,  larger, 
and  more  generic  than  adulthood,  the  stages  of  which 
have  been  added  slowly  step  by  step  as  man  evolved. 
Thus  the  infant  recapitulates  the  stages  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  race  and  is  a  better  representative  of 
it  than  the  adult  soul.  Infant  souls  thus  preexist, 
but  solely  in  their  progenitors,  and  are  developed 
according  to  Mendelian  laws. 

Again,  if  the  brain  were  made  a  "screen"  thus  from 
supernal  influence,  it  would  seem  that  Sir  Oliver's 
brain  and  that  of  those  who  long  to  penetrate  the  veil 
between  this  and  the  next  world  were  imperfect  and 
leaky  and  had  failed  in  some  degree  of  performing 

62 


their  function  as  a  filter  to  keep  man  at  his  job  here. 
Bad  filters  cause  often  the  most  malignant  epidemics. 
Of  old  it  was  thought  that  the  gods  punished  those 
who  pried  into  things  not  permitted  man's  estate,  and 
we  may  well  hope  that  Sir  Oliver,  who  has  left  his 
laboratory  to  propagate  superstition,  will  not  illus- 
trate this  Nemesis.  Excessive  devotion  to  other- 
world  studies  has  driven  many  able  men  to  insanity. 
"One  world  at  a  time  and  this  one  now"  would  seem 
to  be  the  moral  from  his  own  conception  of  man's 
anatomical  and  psychological  makeup. 

Just  as  life  has  progressed  from  the  amoeba  up  to 
man,  so  Sir  Oliver  conceives  an  unbroken  order  after 
death  through  saintly  communion,  supernal  beings 
or  angels,  to  God  himself.  But  this  would  require 
some  kind  of  transmigration  of  souls.  If  I  did 
descend  from  the  amoeba,  the  amoeba  is  not  immortal 
in  me.  There  is  no  more  of  it  in  me  than  there  will 
be  of  me  in  the  angel  that  may  evolve  out  of  my  life 
in  Sir  Oliver's  other  world,  and  my  desire  for  another 
life  will  find  no  more  satisfaction  in  this  angel  tfian 
the  amoeba  gets  in  me.  Indeed  the  gulf  is  wider  in 
the  former  case  for  there  is  a  somatic  continuum  be- 
tween the  amoeba  and  me. 

Telepathy  is,  of  course,  the  last  stronghold  of  all 
spiritistic  phenomena,  and  all  spiritists  assume  that 
souls  communicate  without  the  mediation  of  any  of 
the  organs  of  sense.  This  very  many  people  believe 
from  their  own  experience,  but  it  can  never  be  ac- 
cepted by  science  as  a  fact  until  we  can  so  control  its 

63 


MOKALE 

conditions  that  we  can  announce  in  advance  that  at 
such  a  time  and  place  we  will  demonstrate  it.  Now 
in  fact  all  nerve  fibers  are  so  isolated  that  even  in 
the  nerve  centers  an  impression  never  leaps  from  one 
fiber  to  another  even  within  the  same  sense;  much 
less  does  the  strongest  sound  impression  jump  over 
to  the  nerves  of  sight,  etc.  Now  if  impressions  can- 
not thus  leap  over  such  microscopic  distances,  how 
improbable  that  they  should  be  transmitted  between 
individuals  or  across  continents !  Psychologists  agree 
that  cbincidences,  similarity  in  the  structure  and 
function  of  the  minds  of  friends  and  relatives,  aided 
by  credulity,  fondness,  and  a  preexistent  appercept- 
ive  organ,  account  for  all  these  telepathic  phenomena 
and  that  there  is  no  wireless  between  souls,  as  stu- 
dents of  electrical  phenomena  are  so  prone  to  infer 
by  analogy  and  literary  tropes.  Psychology,  too,  no 
less  fully  explains  the  "sense  of  presence,"  deja  vu 
experiences,  sudden  and  intrusive  ideas  with  appar- 
ently no  associative  link,  and  all  the  rest. 

Thus  if  culture  would  keep  its  own  morale  high,  it 
must  resolutely  refuse,  despite  the  intense  desire  of 
the  soul  to  answer  the  great  question  whether  if  a 
man  die  he  shall  live  again,  so  incalculably  intensi- 
fied throughout  the  world  by  the  vast  harvest  of  dear 
ones  cut  off  in  their  prime  by  the  war,  to  capitulate 
to  this  recrudescence  of  troglodyte  superstition.  The 
universe  is  not  so  made  that  it  gratifies  every  human 
wish.  Even  the  love  of  life,  the  strongest  of  all  de- 
sires, is  negated  by  the  grueling  reality  of  death.  One 

64 


FEAK,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

writer  says,  "If  death  ends  all,  ring  down  the  curtain. 
Life  is  a  lie,  there  is  no  God,  and  evil  shall  become  my 
good."  This  is  the  petulance  of  a  spoiled  child  of  civ- 
ilization. We  have  at  least  the  immortality  of  good 
deeds,  which  the  Buddhist  exhorts  all  to  think  on  as 
their  chief  comfort  as  the  soul  is  entering  Nirvana. 
There  is  also  the  immortality  of  the  stirps ;  if  we  liva 
right,  we  live  in  and  for  future  generations  and  make 
the  world  more  fit  for  them.  These  are  the  mundane 
surrogates  for  immortality,  and  we  can  cultivate 
them  here.  The  admonition  of  morale,  in  view  of  the 
holocaust  of  death  by  the  war,  is  to  close  up  the  ranks 
as  best  we  can,  cherish  as  sacred  the  memory  of  the 
fallen,  resolve  that  their  death  shall  not  be  in  vain, 
and  press  onward,  true  Soldiers  of  Life. 

III.  The  morale  of  hate  and  anger. — Anger  is  the 
most  sthenic  of  all  states.  A  man  who  is  thoroughly 
mad  to  the  point  of  abandon  can  do  and  say  many 
things  impossible  to  him  in  any  other  state.  It  rings 
up  latent  powers  of  nerve  and  muscle,  it  flushes  the 
blood  with  the  most  combustible  of  all  the  high  ex- 
plosive physiological  products,  adrenalin,  like  oil 
sprayed  into  a  furnace.  Savages  work  themselves  up 
to  a  frenzy  of  rage  before  rushing  upon  their  foe. 
Hate,  for  our  purposes  here,  may  be  considered  as  a 
kind  of  deep-settled  and  prolonged  anger,  or  at  least 
a  permanent  possibility  and  proclivity  to  its  more  ex- 
plosive form.  The  conditions  of  modern  warfare, 
however,  are  radically  changed  in  this,  as  in  so  many 
other  respects.  The  boy  who  is  liable  to  fits  of  Ber- 

65 


MOKALE 

serker  rage  and  warns  his  pal  not  to  get  him  "mad" 
has  no  place  in  the  modern  army.  The  old  morbid 
iracundia,  excessive  touchiness,  and  even  the  old  furor 
teutonicus,  which  was  so  terrible  in  primitive  Ger- 
many, avail  little  in  campaigns  where  the  enemy  is  so 
rarely  seen  and  remains  impersonal.  It  is  a  little 
doubtful  whether  the  German  songs  of  hate  and  their 
cult  of  hatred,  especially  against  England,  have  made 
them  really  more  effective  in  war.  Kipling's  threat- 
ening poem  when  England  begins  to  hate,  the  old  ap- 
peals to  this  impulse  in  the  cry,  "Remember  the 
Maine"  or  "Remember  the  Lusitania"  have  produced 
really  little  result.  Such  waves  of  public  indignation 
are  generally  more  or  less  harmless  and  transient 
vents  of  animosity.  Even  in  a  bayonet  scrimmage  of 
man  against  man  the  evidence  indicates  that  not  so 
much  hate  as  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  impels 
the  thrust  fatal  to  the  enemy.  Moreover,  Fritz  when 
captured  or  met  under  any  other  conditions  is  found 
to  be  not  such  a  bad  fellow.  He  is,  after  all,  but  a  man 
much  like  ourselves.  Again,  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  maintain  anger  for  any  length  of  time 
at  a  high  pressure.  Its  very  nature  is  more  or  less  ful- 
minating, and  there  is  a  certain  tendency  to  subside 
and  to  lapse  into  a  state  of  indifference,  or  perhaps 
even  to  react  to  a  certain  degree  of  friendliness  by 
the  law  of  compensation. 

True,  the  wrath  of  Achilles  was  the  theme  of 
Homer,  as  the  wrath  of  God  is  one  of  the  chief  themes 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  achievements  of  Or- 

66 


lando  Furioso  sometimes  had  a  certain  epic  sublimity ; 
but  the  day  for  all  this  has  passed.  Even  the  out- 
rageous atrocities  of  the  Germans  leave  only  a  deep 
and  settled  conviction  that  something  drastic  must  be 
done  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  and  they  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  furnished  the  motive  of  chief  strength 
in  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Never  was  there  a  more 
colossal  psychological  blunder  made  than  when  the 
foe  decided  on  the  method  of  frightfulness,  for  by  this 
he  aroused  a  deep  and.  righteous  sentiment  of  retribu- 
tion which  had  the  very  opposite  effect  from  that  he 
calculated,  namely  stimulating  recruits  and  loan  sub- 
scriptions and  nerving  the  arm  of  the  Allies  with 
something  of  the  energy  of  desperation.  It  was  these 
deeds,  and  the  ever  clearer  conviction  that  they  were 
planned  with  deliberate  purpose,  that  has  done  more 
than  even  the  ambitious  conquest  and  the  affront  to 
the  rest  of  Europe  implied  in  the  superman  assump- 
tion to  make  real  peace  hard,  and  put  off  beyond  the 
vision  of  those  now  living  the  day  of  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  international  friendliness  in  the  world.  Men 
can  pardon  legitimate  war  but  not  these  unprece- 
dented barbarities. 

The  whole  spirit  of  the  Allies,  especially  of  the  Eng- 
lish, was  totally  different.  They  took  into  the  field  the 
habits  of  games  played  according  to  rule  by  gentle- 
men who  would  scorn  to  take  an  unfair  advantage, 
in  which  even  the  less  noble-minded  of  the  contestants 
were  anxious  that  only  the  best  man  should  win. 
Games  are  played  with  the  utmost  energy  and  some- 

67 


MORALE 

times  almost  desperation  but  never  by  the  true  sports- 
man with  personal  antagonism.  And  so  the  war  on 
the  part  of  the  English  was  a  repulsive  job  that  sim- 
ply had  to  be  done,  like  the  cleaning  out  of  Augean 
stables.  The  more  monstrous  the  atrocities  the 
greater  the  need  of  quelling  the  menace.  Instead  of 
cultivating  hate  in  the  school  and  the  community,  this 
was  left  to  itself,  and  the  chief  appeal  was  to  a  sense 
of  need  and  duty  to  down  the  Kaiser  as  the  common 
enemy  of  mankind  or  a  mad  dog. 

I  heard  a  college  president  preach  to  soldiers  that 
instead  of  hating  the  German  when  he  thrust  his  bayo- 
net into  his  abdomen  he  must  love  him  and  offer  a  si- 
lent prayer  for  his  soul.  Such  an  attitude  is  a  psy- 
chological impossibility.8  It  may  be  a  relic  of  the 
savage  custom  of  propitiating  the  souls  of  victims  lest 
their  ghosts  come  back  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the 
slayer ;  but  even  this  was  done  not  in  the  heat  of  con- 
flict but  afterwards. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  it  is  not  only  legiti- 
mate but  necessary  that  our  soldiers  should  know  au- 
thentically and  impartially  all  we  can  tell  them  in  re- 
gard to  outrages  that  lie  without  and  beyond  the 
sphere  of  war  precedents  and  of  humanity. 

The  Frenchman  who  had  seen  his  home  or  that  of 
his  fellowman  destroyed,  his  orchards  ruined,  his 
tools  and  cattle  stolen,  his  wife,  daughter,  and  sister 
outraged  or  enslaved,  must  have  found  hate  and  re- 

8  See  N.  Wyrubow :  Zur  Psychoanalyse  des  Hasses,  Zeitsclhrift  f. 
Psychotherapie  it.  Medizinische  Psychologic,  V.  5,  42,  1914. 

68 


FEAR,  DEATH,  HATE,  AND  ANGER 

venge  a  tremendous  source  of  militant  energy.  We 
have  many  instances  which  show  how  he  burned  to 
give  the  Germans  a  taste  of  their  own  medicine  on 
their  own  soil,  and  how  hard  it  was  for  him  to  refrain 
from  all  excesses  when  after  the  armistice  he  crossed 
the  German  frontier.  This  we  Americans  can  sympa- 
thize with  but  can  never  feel,  for  we  have  not  suffered 
in  this  way. 

Thus  with  the  conquest  of  the  German  arms  we 
must  believe  at  least  that  the  policy  of  frightfulness 
in  war  has  been  given  its  coup  de  grace.  Never  again 
will  a  nation,  however  arrogant  and  powerful,  dare  to 
arouse  the  awful  Nemesis  of  revenge  by  thus  outrag- 
ing, as  the  Germans  have  done,  the  basal  instincts  of 
humanity  and  justice.  The  'bitter  resentments  thus 
kindled  will  die  slow  and  hard.  At  the  moment  of 
writing  they  threaten  to  impel  the  French  toward  a 
policy  of  reprisals,  which  are  abundantly  justified  but 
which  the  other  nations  believe  should  be  repressed 
at  least  from  motives  of  policy.  Thus  we  should  see 
clearly  all  the  hateful  things  the  enemy  has  done  and 
should  not  attempt  to  restrain  our  righteous  indigna- 
tion. But  wars,  especially  long  wars,  will  be  won,  if 
they  scourge  the  world  again,  as  this  one  has,  not 
by  anger;  and  no  nation  after  this  object  lesson  of  its 
futility  will  ever  adopt  the  policy;  of  atrocities. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MORALE   AND    DIVERSIONS 

I.  Humor,  wit,  and  fun — Its  compensatory  value  for  morale — II. 
Music  as  the  organ  of  affectivity — Its  development  in  this  country, 
France,  England,  and  Germany — War  poetry — III.  The  soldier's 
reading. 

I.  The  morale  of  humor. — This  is  far  more  seen  in 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  in  those  who  speak  the  Ro- 
mance languages  than  among  the  Teutons,  whose  ran- 
cor in  war  makes  them  so  serious  that  none  accuse 
them  of  the  "curse  of  jocularity."  Humor  is  perhaps 
the  very  best  camouflage  for  fear.  In  looking  over 
files  of  the  trench  journals  of  the  Allies  nothing  has 
struck  me  more  forcibly  than  the  desperate  and  pa- 
thetic attempts  to  jest,  even  about  death  itself  in  its 
most  horrid  aspects.  This  often  seems  most  shocking 
to  civilian  readers,  while  some  of  the  attempts  to  joke 
are  so  abortive  as  to  be  simply  pathetic.  Coningsby 
Dawson  writes,  "Pretty  well  every  man  I  have  met 
out  here  has  the  amazing  guts  to  wear  his  crown  of 
thorns  as  though  it  were  a  cap  and  bells."  Jests  nor- 
mally belong  to  the  most  carefree  moments  of  life, 
but  at  the  front  they  are  used  to  cover  up  the  most 
serious  and  solemn  of  all  human  experiences,  viz.,  the 
envisagement  of  death.  The  instinct  to  turn  the  most 
solemn  facts  in  the  environment  into  a  theme  of 
laughter  is  partly  an  attempt  of  the  individual  to  re- 

70 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

lease  his  own  thoughts  from  a  present  too  excruciat- 
ingly agonizing  to  be  long  borne,  but  it  is  also  partly 
to  signal  to  others  that  he  can  keep  his  soul  free  and 
happy  in  the  face  of  danger ;  while  a  third  ingredient 
is  the  social  one  of  heartening  others  to  do  the  same. 
Thus  a  "funny"  man  in  the  army  is  a  godsend,  and 
men  instinctively  turn  to  the  mirth-maker,  even 
though  they  are  conscious  that  his  levity  is  half  affec- 
tation. In  peace  and  in  sickness  it  is  often  a  great  re- 
source to  be  able  to  see  the  humorous  side  of  things. 
It  indicates  a  superfluity,  margin,  or  reserve  of  en- 
ergy and  rests  from  the  acutest  mental  strain,  even  if 
it  requires  a  certain  bravado.  As  has  been  often  re- 
marked, humor  is  more  obvious  and  perhaps  strained 
in  the  early  stages  of  a  war  and  tends  to  die  out  as 
men  become  seasoned.  It  is  the  new  recruit  who 
strives  most  desperately  to  be  merry  over  cooties, 
mud,  fatigue,  and  the  rest,  for  it  is  at  bottom  a  defense 
mechanism.  The  rookie  would  fain  be  able  to  look 
the  most  horrid  form  of  death  straight  in  the  face  and 
laugh  and  snap  his  fingers  as  if  defying  him  to  do  his 
worst.  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  instinct  now  in 
some  sense  vicariates  for  the  anticipated  joys  in  some 
warriors'  heaven,  which  was  clung  to  as  a  kind  of 
compensation  for  death.  At  any  rate,  the  soldier  who 
is  devoid  of  humor  lacks  one  of  the  elements  of  the 
morale  of  good  psychic  regimen. 

We  should  go  mad  with  the  tragedy  of  the  atroci- 
ties of  this  war  if  there  were  no  diversions  from  it, 
and  Harold  Beg'bie  is  woefully  wrong  in  thinking  it  is 

71 


MORALE 

all  too  serious  for  fun  or  that  soldiers  and  friends  at 
home  are  shocked  by  all  mirth-making  and  would 
think  a  funereal  mood  the  best.  This  logic  would  ban- 
ish fun  from  the  world,  for  life  itself  is  not  only  seri- 
ous, but  a  battle.  Someone  has  called  the  French  shrug 
and  smile  a  mind-sweeper.  It  means  superfluous  vi- 
tality. The  American  soldiers  who  marched  down  the 
middle  of  a  Paris  street  with  a  deadly  air-raid  above, 
carrying  Japanese  paper  parasols  as  a  protection,  in- 
voked laughter  from  those  who  had  crowded  the  door- 
ways and  bomb-cellars  while  explosives  were  falling 
all  about;  the  boy  who  showed  a  sympathetic  chap- 
lain what  appeared  to  be  a  Morocco-bound  Testament 
in  which  a  Hun  bullet  had  been  stopped  and  so  saved 
his  life,  though  it  had  wounded  him  severely,  and, 
after  listening  to  the  obvious  religious  lesson,  showed 
him  that  it  was  a  pack  of  cards;  the  noted  English 
airman  at  St.  Quentin  who  stole  high  up  into  the  air, 
disguising  the  identifying  marks  of  his  machine  and 
drawing  a  fusillade  from  Teuton  aircraft  guns,  all  in 
order  to  drop  what  seemed  to  the  terrified  crowd  be- 
low to  be  a  bomb  but  proved  to  be  only  a  Rugby  foot- 
ball, that  instead  of  exploding  bounded  high  into  the 
air;  the  straw  and  plug  hats  an  American  company 
wore  from  a  nearby  hat-shop  in  place  of  their  helmets; 
the  fun  of  the  Sammies  with  the  French  language; 
the  pet  names  given  to  effective  big  guns;  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  French  perky  Nennette  and  Rintintin 
against  air-raids,  worn  everywhere  by  both  sexes ;  the 
love  of  pets  and  mascots ;  the  incessant  and  clever  ap- 

72 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

plication  of  the  familiar  terms  of  football  and  base- 
ball to.  war  incidents;  the  rich  and  clever  trench 
slang;  the  interest  in  films  of  the  Chaplin  and  Fair- 
banks order;  the  passion  for  farce,  satire,  comedy, 
and  extravaganzas  generally — all  these,  and  countless 
more  serve  many  a  purpose  of  high  morale.  First  of 
all,  laughter  makes  friendships,  even  with  those  who 
speak  another  tongue ;  a  mutual  smile  brings  souls  to- 
gether. Again,  it  flaunts  the  fact  that  one  refuses  to 
be  scared ;  and,  thirdly,  it  transforms  pathos  into  hu- 
mor, just  as  Hood  when  dying  of  consumption  found 
comfort  in  caricaturing  his  own  more  and  more  lethal 
symptoms.  And  there  are  the  pathetic  jests  which 
are  sometimes  the  last  words  of  the  dying,  e.  g.,  Heine, 
when  asked  Pouvez-vous  sijflerf  replied,  Pas  memo 
une  comedie  de  Scribe.  Momus  never  played  such  a 
role  as  in  this  most  tragic  of  wars,  and  when  all  this 
material  is  assembled  and  duly  explained  he  will  be 
shown  to  have  had  no  insignificant  part  in  winning  it.1 
The  history  of  fools  abundantly  illustrates  this 
principle.2  Courts,  guilds,  ecclesiastics,  noblemen, — > 
all  had  them.  They  were  often  licensed  truth-tellers, 
to  be  angered  at  whom  would  be  a  confession.  Punch! 
buffets  and  overcomes  the  devil.  Death  and  the  danse 
macabre  of  skeletons  in  graveyards  flourished  during 
the  Great  Plague.  The  church  allowed  everything  to 
be  satirized;  fools  mimicked  bishops,  and  there  were 

1  The  Psychology  of  Tickling,  Laughing,  and  the  Comic.  By  G.  S. 
Hall  &  Ar.  Allen,  Amr.  J.  of  Psychol.,  9,  No.  1  (Oct.  1897). 

"Dr.  Doran:  The  History  of  Court  Fools,  1868;  C.  F.  FISgel : 
Geschichte  der  Hofnarren,  Lpz.,  Siegert,  1789 ;  M.  A.  Gazeau :  Lei 
Bouftons,  1892;  M.  Moreau:  Foua  et  Bouffons,  Paris,  1885. 

73 


MORALE 

• 

mock  Masses  in  which  sausages  were  eaten  on  the 
altar.  A  peasant  girl  with  a  doll  rode  backward  on 
an  ass,  aping  the  Holy  Mother,  and  instead  of  the 
Kyrie,  the  Gloria,  and  the  Ite  Missa  Est,  there  were 
brays  and  falsetto  hee-haws.  Sacred  garments  were 
worn  wrong-side  out,  and  on  April  Fool's  day  Christ 
was  buffeted  between  Pilate  and  Herod.  In  Brant's 
Nahrenschiff  one  hundred  and  thirteen  follies  were 
set  forth,  and  in  Erasmus'  Praise  of  Folly,  in  a  sense 
anticipating  Pope's  Dunciad,  Stultitia  with  her  court 
judges  everything.  Hans  Wurst,  Pickled  Herring, 
Stockfish,  and  later  Krug  der  Rosen ;  Jean  Pottage  in 
France;  and  in  England,  Jack  Pudding,  Will  Som- 
mers,  Micklejohn,  Puff,  and  Capperdox,  enjoyed 
boundless  license  to  perform  all  their  pranks,  and 
sometimes  were  allowed  to  be  obscene  to  fortify  chas- 
tity by  its  opposite,  and  blasphemous  in  an  age  of  or- 
thodoxy, as  a  kind  of  catharsis  to  fix  and  reinforce 
plenary  faith.  Thus  it  was  thought  laughter  could 
guard  men  against  heterodoxy  and  vice  by  making 
them  ridiculous,  perhaps  somewhat  as  Plato  thought 
showing  sots  to  the  young  established  them  in  tem- 
perance, and  just  as  the  freak  of  the  Chaplin  order 
helps  us  against  a  sense  of  inferiority  in  ourselves. 

II.  Music. — Why  do  psychologists  who  write  on 
army  morale  never  mention  music,  which  is  one  of  its 
most  important  adjuvants?  Plato  praised  the  stately 
Doric  and  the  martial  Phrygian  modes  and  would 
banish  from  his  ideal  Republic  the  softer  Lydian  and 
other  modes  as  enervating.  This  would  practically 

74 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

exclude  music  of  home,  love,  and  nature.  W.  R. 
Spaulding3  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  ancient  and  me- 
dieval role  of  music  in  war.  A  German  committee 
examined  and.  rejected  3,200  compositions  written  in 
competition  for  a  prize  offered,  for  a  fit  national  an- 
them. So  far  this  war  has  produced  nothing  that  be- 
gins to  compare  with  Die  Wacht  am  Rhein,  which  has 
almost  become  a  symbol  in  that  country  of  the  War  of 
1870,  the  spirit  of  which  it  so  well  conserves;  or  with 
our  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  which  expresses 
the  American  militant  spirit  of  our  Civil  War. 

General  J.  F.  Bell  said:  "A  songless  army  would 
lack  in  fighting  spirit  in  proportion  as  it  lacked  re- 
sponsiveness to  music.  There  is  no  more  potent  force 
for  developing  unity  in  an  army  than  song."  It  makes 
a  good  soldier  better,  and  a  trained  soldier  a  more 
perfect  one.  We  read  how  the  ennobling  war  songs, 
Sartibre  et  Meuse  and  Pere  la  Victoire  sustained  the 
French  at  Verdun  and  elsewhere.  Soon  after  we  en- 
tered the  war  a  national  committee  was  formed,  with 
F.  Hanmer  at  its  head,  to  induce  soldiers  to  sing. 
Soon  every  camp  had  its  song  leader,  and  a  school  for 
training  these  leaders  was  established  in  New  York 
with  H.  Barholt,  the  noted  leader  of  community 
singing  at  its  head.  Conditions  were  novel,  and  new 
tracts  had  to  be  broken.  A  roster  of  musical  ability 
was  made  out  by  the  leaders,  and  concerts  soon 

*  W.  R.  Spaulding :  Music  a  Necessary  Part  of  the  Soldier's  Equip- 
ment, Outlook,  June  5,  1918 ;  War  in  Its  Relation  to  American  Music, 
Mus.  Q.,  Ja.,  1918 ;  Work  of  the  Music  School  Settlement  in  Ameri- 
canizing Its  Patrons,  Musician,  Ag.,  1918. 

75 


MORALE 

were   organized   and   regimental    bands   reenforced. 

When  Mr.  Stiles  first  mounted  a  soap  box  at  Camp 
Devens  and  demanded  that  every  private  and  officer 
In  the  assembly  show  his  teeth  and  smile  as  if  this 
were  a  drill  order,  his  hearers  were  taken  aback  at 
first  and  chaffed,  but  they  soon  found  that  he  was  a 
good  fellow,  could  take  as  well  as  give  banter,  and  in 
a  short  time  he  had  them  singing  the  chorus  of  Smile, 
Smile,  Smile,  and  their  troubles,  for  the  moment  at 
least,  went  into  the  "old  kit-bag." 

The  answers  of  these  song  leaders  to  a  question- 
naire I  sent  them  showed  very  great  differences  in  rep- 
ertoires and  also  in  the  favorite  songs  in  the  different 
camps,  but  all  testified  to  a  unique  hunger  for  music 
as  a  feeder  of  the  very  soul  and  stressed  its  power  to 
key  up  exhausted  nerves  and  muscles.  Altogether 
these  reports  gave  overwhelming  proof  that  music  had 
become  no  longer  a  luxury  but  a  necessity  for  the  sol- 
dier. It  is  a  great  bracer  on  a  long  hike,  "eyes  bright- 
ened, shoulders  straightened,  ranks  closed  up,"  etc. 
It  is  the  best  safeguard  against  care,  worry,  and 
homesickness.  Americans  tend  to  hide  their  real  feel- 
ings,, but  their  love  of  jocularity  and  extravaganzas 
cannot  resist  the  catchy  lilt  of  such  chanteys  as  Long 
Boy.  Idiotic  jingles,  and  sometimes  endless  rhymes 
like  'Ninety-Nine  Bottles  Hanging  on  a  Wall  may 
make  them  forget  fatigue  near  the  end  of  a  long 
march.  Often  one  group  of  soldiers  sings  for  a  mile  or 
two  and  then  the  song  is  taken  up  by  another  group, 
and  this  may  go  on  for  hours.  Not  only  are  great  lib- 

76 


erties  often  taken  with  both  music  and  words  but  the 
latter  are  sometimes  permanently  changed.  Perhaps 
the  height  of  extravagance  is  reached  in  the  many 
songs  which  tell  what  the  Sammies  will  do  when  they 
get  to  Berlin,  or  to  the  Kaiser,  Hindenburg,  etc.,  when 
they  catch  them.  There  are  songs,  too,  of  all  grades 
of  merit  and  a  wide  range  of  sentiment  dealing  with 
every  petty  detail  of  the  soldier's  life,  which  our 
doughboys  so  love  to  see  in  a  musical  mirror. 

Some  simple  songs  of  perhaps  low  musical  quality 
have  made  a  very  direct  appeal  to  soldier  morale. 
Where  De  We  Go  From  Here  suggests  deeds  accom- 
plished and  a  pressure  of  fresh  demands  for  still 
greater  deeds,  along  with  a  spirit  of  entire  subjection. 
I  Don't  Care  Where  They  Send  Me  indicates  some- 
thing like  a  fatalistic  submission  and  obedience. 
Keep  the  Home  Fires  Burning  brings  a  vital  touch  in 
memory  with  home  and  makes  the  soldier  realize  that 
he  is  defending  his  dearest  treasures.  The  Long,  Long 
Trail,  which  several  leaders  call  the  song  of  songs  in 
their  camp,  sounds  a  note  of  yearning,  fate,  with  an 
Omar  Khayyam  touch  of  pathos.  Over  There,  and 
Keep  Your  Head  Down,  Fritzie  Boy  are  psychologi- 
cally akin  to  the  menacing  gestures  and  shouts  of  sav- 
age tribes  working  themselves  up  to  the  frenzy  of  at- 
tack. Before  some  of  these  even  Tipperary,  the  un- 
precedented world  song,  has  paled  somewhat  in  pop- 
ularity. In  the  collections  of  camp  songs  I  have  listed 
some  two-score  more  which  seem  to  me  must  contri- 
bute more  or  less  both  to  unify  and  to  fortify  the  soul 

77 


of  the  soldier.  Indeed  the  country  owes  a  great  debt 
to  many  composers  of  the  second  or  third  class  of  mu- 
sical merit  who  have  voiced  the  soldier's  heart  and 
helped  to  form  his  will.  In  some  camps  stress  is  laid 
upon  having  the  soldiers  join  in  community  singing 
or,  vice  versa,  in  bringing  the  community  to  the  camp 
for  song.  In  France  our  boys  have  learned  many  songs 
of  our  Allies  and  have  taught  them  their  own  songs, 
which  has  created  a  spirit  of  fraternity. 

Of  the  five  great  themes  of  song, — patriotism  and 
war,  love,  home,  nature,  and  fun, — our  soldiers  are 
inclined  to  take  patriotism  for  granted  and  are  not 
especially  fond  of  singing  about  it.  Even  America 
and  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  are  rather  reserved 
for  formal  occasions,  and  are  not  often  called  for  or 
spontaneously  sung.  A  very  different  class  of  music  is 
wanted  about  the  campfire  than  is  in  demand  during 
drill  or  outdoors,  when  music  more  closely  associated 
with  action  is  preferred.  Of  these  five  classes,  love  of 
friends  at  home,  especially  sweethearts,  leads.  In 
all  the  history  of  war  love  has  been  a  very  fundamen- 
tal note,  subordinated,  as  it  has  to  be,  to  the  stress 
and  strain  of  war;  and,  unlike  Plato,  modern  mili- 
tary authorities  have  not  thought  it  inimical  to  mo- 
rale but  a  kind  of  compensation  or  vicariate  for  hard- 
ship and  battle  strain.  I  have  not  found  a  single 
American  song  that  deals  directly  with  going  over  the 
top.  The  mind  of  the  American  soldier  evades  this  as 
something  he  never  wishes  to  be  reminded  of  until 
the  emergency  compels  him  to  face  it.  Our  soldiers, 

78 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

too,  never  sing  songs  of  death  of  their  own  free  will. 
Only  a  few  religious  songs  have  been  popular,  and 
half  the  great  vogue  of  Onward,  Christian  Soldiers  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  an  excellent  march.  The 
amount  and  degree  of  bathos  that  our  boys  relish 
would  seem  to  have  no  limit. 

Thus  music  for  us  has  proved  not  so  much  an  art 
as  a  bracer,  and  perhaps  still  more  a  diverter.  Many 
old  songs  have  survived;  more  so,  as  far  as  I  can  fig- 
ure out,  in  England  with  its  conservative  tendencies 
than  in  any  other  of  the  Allied  countries.  Old  songs 
are  often  mainly  nuclei  of  sentiment  and  are  charged 
with  reminiscences  vague  but  strongly  toned  with  af- 
feotivity.  They  are  dear  to  us  because  of  their  many 
associations,  personal  and  national.  Most  French- 
men who  sing  the  Marseillaise  remember  that  it  was 
the  song  of  the  group  of  Girondists  before 
the  guillotine,  which  grew  dim  as  each  head 
fell  into  the  basket,  only  one  voice  finally 
chanting  it  until  the  fatal  knife  ended  it  in  the 
middle  of  a  note.  With  us  the  old  songs  natur- 
ally prevailed  at  first  because  better  known,  and  some 
still  persist;  and  while  certain  folk  songs  and  even 
old  darky  music  have  survived,  as  the  war  went  on 
these  tended  to  be  superseded  by  newer  compositions. 
Dialect,  songs  with  dances  or  that  involve  much  dra- 
matic action,  perhaps  with  costume  and  impersona- 
tion have  also  had  a  place.  Mcolai  claims  that  war 
poetry  and  music  are  always  of  an  inferior  quality, 
but  this  war  has  been  a  prodigious  stimulus  to  pro- 

79 


MORALE 

ductions,  at  which  classicism  may  be  inclined  to  sneer 
but  which,  even  if  they  are  Philistine,  get  in  their 
good  work. 

We  shall  never  fully  realize  the  importance  of  mu- 
sic for  morale  until  we  see  clearly  once  and  for  all 
that  psychologically  music  is  pw  excellence  the  lan- 
guage of  the  heart,  feelings,  moods,  dispositions,  sen- 
timents, emotions,  and  attitudes;  indeed  of  nearly 
all  our  vast  unconscious  life.  It  is  just  as  much  so 
as  speech  is  the  language  of  the  senses  and  the  intel- 
lect and,  to  a  less  extent,  of  the  will.  Music,  then,  is 
the  organ  of  affectivity  and  hence  deals  with  what  is 
more  intangible  and  imponderable  though  often  far 
more  potent,  especially  to  the  group  mind,  than  ideas 
or  concepts.  Even  nations  and  races  sing  out  their 
hearts  and  reveal  in  music  their  deepest  and  most 
characteristic  traits.  Incidentally  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  song  gives  voice  to  our  young  officers 
who  often  so  strangely  lack  it,  so  much  so  that  to  Mr. 
Lloyd  has  been  assigned  the  task  of  developing  this 
use  of  it.  From  this  its  nature,  music  ought  to  de- 
velop all  the  classes  of  sentiment  and  feeling,  and  in- 
directly it  tends  to  strengthen  the  deeper,  unconscious 
instincts  men  have  in  common  and  to  fuse  souls  to- 
gether. 

French  war  music  has  some  unique  features.  By 
the  closing  of  the  theaters  and  vaudevilles  many  Pa- 
risian artists  who  lived  by  the  drama  were  in  dire  dis- 
tress, and  some  of  them  became  ballad  singers  in  cafe's 
and  on  the  streets  and  squares,  and  acquired  both 

80 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

vogue  and  profit.  The  Parisian  was  too  tense  to  sit 
through  a  play  but  singers  of  both  sexes  wandered 
about,  sang,  and  sold  songs  of  their  own  composition. 
One  noted  soprano  produced  The  Marseillaise  of  the 
Dead,  which  immediately  had  the  greatest  popularity. 
Very  many  incidents  of  the  war  have  thus  been  cast 
not  only  into  poetry  but  into  song,  like  that  of  the  boy 
of  seven  who  was  killed  by  a  German  because  ho 
aimed  a  wooden  gun  at  him.  Thus  every  sentiment 
connected  with  the  war  has  been  besung  and  many  of 
its  tragic  incidents  preserved.  Joseph  Lee  insists  that 
music  is  one  of  the  very  first  things  to  keep  soldiers 
well  in  body  and  to  maintain  their  morale  at  concert 
pitch,  and  thus  the  French  have  used  it.  Songs  with 
a  sectional  appeal  are  less  common  in  this  country 
than  in  Germany. 

The  German  soldier  music  has  traits  all  its  own. 
On  the  Whole  the  Teutons  are  more  musical  and  also 
fonder  of  harmony  and  part  song.  They  have  hardly 
a  trace  of  the  American  passion  for  beating  time  or 
for  ragtime.  They  are  also  too  serious  for  fun.  The 
Germans  sing  about  death,  which  the  American  never 
does,  and  thrill  at  the  very  word  Deutschland.  They 
put  more  Oemut  than  "pep"  into  their  songs.  Das 
Volk  Steht  Anf  describes  in  a  thrilling  way  the  awak- 
ening of  the  people  as  the  storm  of  war  broke  over 
them,  and  how  all  became  brothers  and  would  die  to- 
gether if  need  be  for  the  Vaterland.  Erhebet  Euch 
von  der  Erde  was  a  trumpet  call  to  the  people  to 
arouse,  seize  their  arms,  consecrate  themselves  to  the 

81 


fearful  chance  of  death,  and  expect  help  from  the  Ger- 
man God.  Das  treue  deutsche  Herz,  Kein  schonerer 
Tod  auf  dieser  Welt,  Du  Deutschland,  DCS  Kriegers 
Absented,  Des  Seemanns  Los  illustrate,  as  their  titles 
indicate,  the  serious,  death-defying  spirit  of  men  ter- 
ribly in  earnest. 

In  the  cultivation  of  music  in  the  army  we  were 
unfortunately  far  behind.  The  late  Major  F.  A.  Ma- 
han,  in  an  official  report  in  1914  by  order  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  said,  "All  over  the  world,  save  in  our 
own  country,  the  necessity  of  cultivating  this  force 
(moral  force  or  morale)  is  recognized."  He  found 
us  very  deficient.  Four  years  later  General  Pershing 
found  our  bands  in  France  so  small  that  they  "failed 
to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  moral  force  on  the  morale 
of  our  troops  at  the  front"  and  recommended  (1)  an 
increased  personnel,  (2)  a  larger  and  more  logical  in- 
strumentation, (3)  a  consistent  method  of  band  train- 
ing. To  this  the  Chief  of  Staff  responded,  and  we 
have  now  a  United  States  Army  Music  School  such  as 
France  achieved  under  the  influence  of  Napoleon  and 
which  the  British  copied  sixty  years  ago  when  their 
Royal  Military  School  of  Music  was  established. 
Generals  Oorbin  and  Bell  have  advocated  singing  also 
as  a  promoter  of  morale,  and  the  chief  of  our  army 
music  school,  Captain  A.  A.  Clappe,  has  set  forth  its 
needs  and  functions  in  a  masterly  article.4 

Of  poems  the  war  has  produced  a  prodigious  num- 

*  Music  as  a  Moral  Force  on  Morale,  Infantry  Journal,  March, 
1919. 

82 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

ber  in  all  lands.  It  is  interesting  to  note  tliat  before 
the  close  of  the  second  year  the  Germans  had  graded 
and  given  prizes  for  the  best  of  some  fifty  thousand 
poems  by  the  German  children  who  attempted  to  woo 
the  Muse  of  War.  The  Clark  Library  has  several 
shelves  of  bound  volumes  of  war  poems,  and  a  few, 
although  of  course  necessarily  premature,  attempts 
have  been  made  to  evaluate  them  and  select  the  best. 
Both  poetry  and  war  stories  have  played  an  important 
role  in  morale,  though  probably  far  less  than  music. 

III.  Reading. — Every  home  camp  had  its  library 
and.  librarians.  After  the  first  weeks,  when  the  re- 
cruits began  to  harden,  they  did  considerable  reading, 
and  it  has  been  estimated  that  there  were  some  45,000 
college  men  in  the  army. 

From  answers  to  a  circular  I  sent  to  each  camp 
librarian  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  despite  the  sur- 
prising difference  in  camps  fiction  leads,  with  tales  of 
adventure  and.  mystery  taking  the  first  place.  Kip- 
ling, Doyle,  McCutcheon,  O.  Henry,  Tarkington,  Op- 
penheim,  Haggard,  London,  Wells,  H.  B.  Weight, 
Mrs.  Barclay's  Rosary,  Hornaday's  The  Man  Who  Be- 
came a  Savage  are  samples  of  favorites.  Next  to  fic- 
tion comes  the  demand  for  books  about  France,  the 
French  language  and  literature,  and  for  military  sub- 
jects, including  engineering.  Camp  examinations 
brought  a  call  for  other  classes  of  books,  and  indeed 
literature  of  almost  every  type  had  its  patrons.  Only 
books  for  girls,  indecent  literature,  and  German  prop- 
aganda were  barred,  and  the  drive  of  December,  1917, 

83 


MORALE 

brought  many  gifts.  Very  little  effort,  however,  was 
made  to  guide  reading. 

My  suggestion  was  that  each  camp  library  provide 
among  other  literature  books  describing  the  conquest 
of  America  by  Germany,  to  compensate  somewhat  for 
our  distance  and  aloofness  by  bringing  possibilities 
home  to  reinforce  morale.  The  chief  of  these  are 
H.  G.  Wells'  The  War  in  the  Air  (1917),  focusing  in 
the  battle  of  New  York;  Homer  Lea's  The  Valor  of 
Ignorance  (1909),  describing  a  Japanese  invasion  of 
our  Pacific  coast;  J.  B.  Walker's  America  Fallen! 
(1915),  a  very  realistic  story  designed  to  check  our 
confidence  and  laisses  faire;  C.  Moffett's  The  Con- 
quest of  America  (1916) ;  T.  Dixon's  The  Fall  of  a 
Nation  (1916),  a  horrible  tale  of  what  might  happen 
here  if  pacifism  prevailed;  H.  Maxim's  Defenseless 
'America  (1915) ;  and  J.  W.  Muller's  The  Invasion  of 
America  (1916).5  While  some  of  these  works  are 
highly  imaginative,  several  of  them  are  written  with 
the  cooperation  of  military  and  naval  experts  and  de- 
scribe events  that  the  authors  believe  might  actually 
happen,  the  idea  being  that  perusal  of  work  of  this 
class  would  help  us  to  realize  how  the  French  and 
Belgians  do  feel. 

Soldiers  read  what  others  do,  but  with  much  differ- 
ence. It  is  a  good  sign  that  poetry,  especially  Kipling, 
Alan  Seeger,  Tennyson,  etc.,  were  much  in  demand. 

*  On  the  invasion  of  England,  see  Du  Manner's  An  Englishman's 
Home  (1909)  ;  E.  Childers'  The  Riddle  of  the  Sands  (1903)  ;  Lequex's 
The  Coming  of  the  Germans  to  England  (1914) ;  Redmond-Howard's 
Hindcnburg's  March  to  London  (1916). 

84 


MORALE  AND  DIVERSIONS 

Religious  reading  was  less  than  was  predicted.  The 
American  Bible  Society  issued  in  army  and  navy 
editions,  from  the  time  we  entered  the  war,  about  two 
and  one  quarter  million  volumes  of  the  Scriptures, 
but  despite  the  injunctions  of  President  Wilson  and 
Ex-President  Roosevelt  to  the  soldiers  to  read  it,  there 
is  a  great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  how  extensively 
this  was  done. 

Few  read  spontaneously  to  fortify  their  spirits 
either  against  the  hardships  or  dangers  of  war;  more 
to  clarify  their  convictions  of  the  righteousness  of 
their  cause.  Hygiene,  too,  makes  some  appeal; 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  motive  of  diversion  seems  to  ex- 
ceed that  of  practical  preparation.  Reading  any- 
thing is  a  sedative.  To  feed  the  new  interests  aroused 
by  entering  military  life  was  a  problem  the  war  did 
not  last  long  enough  for  us  to  solve  entirely,  though 
we  have  realized  its  significant  aid  to  morale.  Just 
how  and  in  what  direction  to  stimulate  reading  under 
training-camp  conditions  is  a  new,  vast  problem  which 
librarians  have  not  yet  solved.6 

•T.  W.  Koch:  War  Libraries  and  Allied  Studies,  287,  N.  Y., 
Stechert,  1918.  See,  too,  A.  T.  Davies:  Student  Captives:  An  Ac- 
count of  the  Work  of  the  British  Prisoners  of  ~Wor  Book  Supple- 
ment, Leicester,  Stevens,  1917. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    MORALE   OF   PLACARDS,    SLOGANS,    DECORATIONS, 
AND  WAR  MUSEUMS 

I.  The  origin  of  pictures  and  posters  and  their  functions  in  this 
war — II.  Medals  and  other  insignia  of  honor  in  the  different 
countries — III.  Museums  and  collections  of  various  kinds  in 
different  lands  of  mementoes  of  the  war. 

I.  Morale  and  placards. — When  at  the  outset  of 
the  war  England  was  confronted  with  the  problem  of 
raising  a  vast  army  as  quickly  as  possible,  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  War,  Colonel  Seely,  called  upon  Mr. 
Hedley  LeBas,  a  London  publisher  who  had  been 
deeply  interested  in  the  psychology  and  practice  of  ad- 
vertising and  who  was  allowed,  not  without  much  hesi- 
tation in  conservative  England,  carte  blanche  to  stim- 
ulate enlistment  in  any  way.  Some  of  the  best  artists 
were  engaged,  and  a  series  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  posters  were  soon  conspicuously  displayed  all 
over  Great  Britain  with  a  message  it  was  hard  to 
ignore.  All  agreed  that  they  were  a  prominent  if  not 
the  chief  factor  in  raising  a  volunteer  army  of  over 
three  million  men.  When  and  before  recruiting  was 
superseded  by  the  draft  the  same  method  was  applied 
to  war  loans,  and  by  its  aid  over  three  billion  dollars 
were  raised  in  two  weeks.  In  this  country  posters, 
beginning  with  those  of  the  Marines,  have  played  a 
great  role,  and  many  American  artists — Blashfield, 

86 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

Kenyon  Cox,  Reuterdakl,  Gibson,  Pennell  and  others, 
were  enlisted.  While  our  government  issued  only  two 
posters  for  the  first  Liberty  Loan,  private  organiza- 
tions flooded  the  country  in  each  drive.  All  countries 
have  used  them  for  Red  Cross,  food,  the  wounded,  and 
indeed  every  war  purpose. 

Art  in  a  somewhat  stricter  sense  has  also  helped 
military  morale  by  producing  many  notable  pictures 
and  especially  series,  which  have  been  very  important 
factors.1  Raemaekers  of  Holland  made  his  art  a  po- 
tent factor  for  morale.  He  produced  hundreds  of 
striking  anti-Teutonic  pictures,  and  was  even  charged 
with  jeopardizing  the  neutrality  of  Holland,  so  that 
the  German  government  is  said  to  have  sought  him 
with  such  persistence  that  he  fled  to  England.2  A  few 
French  artists  have  had  immense  influence  and  vogue, 
e.g.,  Georges  Scott,  wrho  had  followed  the  Balkan  cam- 
paign as  a  reporter-illustrator  and  who  was  appointed 
one  of  the  four  official  painters  to  the  French  armies ; 
also  Lucien  Jonas,  whose  remarkable,  sometimes  alle- 
gorical compositions  were,  like  those  of  Scott,  ex- 
ecuted at  the  front.  Icart  was  the  first  successfully  to 
introduce  the  airplane,  which  is  a  new  and  awkward 
topic  for  canvas.  His  Spirit  of  the  Air  and  The  De- 
fense of  Paris  brought  him  into  instant  fame.  Many 
of  his  pictures  illustrated  the  relations  of  woman  to 
war.  Then  there  is  Levy-Dhurmer,  whose  pictures  are 

*A.  E.  Gallatin's  Art  and  the  Great  War  (N.  T.,  1919),  with  one 
hundred  illustrations,  well  sets  forth  in  general  the  r61e  that  art 
played  in  the  war  in  the  various  allied  countries. 

*  The  Great  War:  A  Neutral's  Indictment.  One  Hundred  Car- 
toons. By  Louis  Kaemaekers,  Lend.,  The  Fine  Arts  Society,  1916. 

87 


MOKALE 

charming  but  sad,  his  best  series  being  perhaps  that 
entitled  "Mothers  of  the  War."  Poulbot  has  a  hun- 
dred pictures  illustrating  the  effects  of  the  war  upon 
children.3  The  French  have  used  art  more  effectively 
than  any  other  country  for  mutilated  soldiers.  They 
have  also  offered  prizes  to  children  for  pictures, 
especially  those  concerning  food  in  war-times.4 

Thus  the  war  has  been  a  veritable  inspiration  to 
scores  of  artists,  and  by  its  aid  they  have  brought 
home  its  terrible  realities  in  all  its  details  and  have 
also  brought  out,  perhaps  even  more  effectively  than 
poetry  or  music  have  been  able  to  do,  the  ideality 
always  latent  in  it.  Not  until  the  history  of  this  great 
conflict  has  been  written  up  shall  we  realize  to  what 
an  amazing  extent  art  has  simply  been  the  very  in- 
carnation of  war  morale.  Many  of  these  artists  have 
already  been  decorated,  and  the  end  of  the  war  by  no 
means  marks  the  end.  of  their  influence  or  of  their 
work,  which  the  briefest  description  of  some  of  these 
masterpieces  of  emotional  appeal,  were  there  space 
for  it  here,  would  itself  show. 

Closely  connected  with  this  work  has  been  the  use 
of  titles,  slogans,  and  watchwords,  in  which  the  spirit 
of  the  war  has  also  been  embodied  and  which  are  very 
generally,  especially  in  the  posters,  connected  with 
pictures.  Every  country  has  them.  The  following 
are  samples: — 

1  Des  Qosses  et  des  Bonhommes,  Paris,  1918. 

*  Clark  University  has  about  6,000  of  these  artistic  war  pictures, 
including  proclamations.  See  report  of  the  librarian,  Louis  N.  Wil- 
son, The  War  Collection  at  Clark  University  Library,  October,  1918. 

88 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

Us  ne  passeront  pas. 

Ne  Ven  fait  pas;  on  les  aura. 

Go  on  or  go  under. 

If  you  cannot  give  a  life  you  can  save  a  life. 

Don't  lag !  Follow  your  Flag ! 

Picture  of  a  bugler  blowing.    A  vacant  space  in  tlie 

ranks.    Legend :  Fall  In ! 
Soldier  pointing  to  a  beautiful  landscape.  Legend : 

Isn't  This  Worth  Fighting  For? 
Soldier  with  a  beckoning  finger.  An  Appeal  To  You. 
Picture  of  St.  George  slaying  the  dragon.    Legend : 

Britain  Needs  You  At  Once. 
A  soldier :  Make  Us  As  Proud  of  You  as  We  Are  of 

Him. 

Have  you  a  reason  or  only  an  excuse? 
You  are  proud  of  your  pals  in  the  army  but  what  do 

they  think  of  you? 
How  will  you  answer  your  boy  who  says,  "What  did 

you  do  in  the  great  war?" 
A  gray-haired  mother  saying  to  her  boy,  "Go,  it  ia 

your  duty." 
A  picture  of  troops  in  battle  almost  overwhelmed. 

Legend:  Why  Don't  They  Come? 
Picture  of   Whistler's   "Mother."     Legend:  Fight 

For  Her. 

The  O'Leary  posters. 
Picture  of  pretty  Irish  colleen  pointing  to  burning 

Belgian  house,  and  saying,  "Will  you  go  or  must 

I?" 

Columbia  sleeping.    Legend :    Wake  Up  America. 

89 


MORALE 

Liberty  Bell.    Ring  It  Again. 

Desperate  battle  in  the  background,  Uncle  Sam  in 

the    foreground    with  drawn    sword.      Legend: 

"Hold  the  Fort  for  I  Am  Coming." 
If  You  Can't  Enlist,  Invest. 
Don't  Read  History ;  Make  It. 
American  girl  in  a  middy  blouse.    Gee,  I  Wish  I 

Was  a  Man ;  I'd  Join  the  Navy. 
Munitions  being  loaded  labeled  "Rush."    Legend: 

Help  Deliver  the  Goods. 
Man  of  the  signal  corps  wigwagging.    Legend :  He 

Is  Getting  Our  Country's  Signal.    Are  You? 
A  soldier  on  an  observation  post.    Legend:   The 

Country  Is  Looking  for  a  Fit  Man.  Are  You  Fit? 
French   girl   waving   the    tricolor    over   the    sea. 

Legend:    Come  Across  and  Help  Us. 
You  Come  Across  or  Germany  Will. 
Boxing  match  between  Uncle  Sam  and  the  Kaiser, 

who  has  just  had  an  "upper  cut."    Legend :  Be  In 

At  The  Finish. 

Our  Hat  Is  In  the  Ring;  Come  In  and  Put  One  On. 
Shall  We  Be  More  Tender  With  Our  Dollars  Than 

With  the  Lives  of  Our  Sons? 
Daddy  Is  Fighting  At  the  Front  For  You.     Back 

Him  Up.    Buy  Bonds. 
Shall  We  Conquer  or  Submit? 
A  message  from  the  front:    When  Are  The  Other 

Boys  Coming? 
Picture  of  Germans  plundering  a  cottage.    Legend: 

Is  Your  Home  Worth  Fighting  For? 
90 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

Three  Soldiers  playing  cards  in  front  of  a  dugout. 

Legend:  .Will  You  Make  The  Fourth? 
Are  You  Playing  the  Game? 
Obey  Your  Impulse  Now. 

Telephone  operator  at  the  front  calling,  "We  want 

more  men."  Legend :  Will  You  Answer  This  Call? 

How  Will  You  Cheer  the  Boys  Coming  Home  If  You 

Have  Done  Nothing? 
Picture  of  a  soldier's  cap.    Legend:   If  This  Cap 

Fits  You,  Put  It  on. 
Picture    of    jolly    soldier    with    full    equipment. 

Legend:    Come  Along,  Boys. 
Picture  of  Lord  Roberts.     Legend:  He  Did  His 

Duty.    Will  You  Do  Yours? 
A  bare,  muscular  arm  with  clenched  fist.    Legend : 

Lend  Your  Strong  Right  Arm  To  The  Country. 
Every  dollar  makes  the  Kaiser  holler. 
Buy  a  gun  to  beat  the  Hun. 
Bondmen  now  or  freemen  forever. 
A  man  who  won't  lend  is  the  Kaiser's  friend. 
Liberty  bond  or  Liberty  bound.    Which?5 
The  pithy  epigram  and  the  cartoon  have  done  great 
things  in  the  world  but  never  greater  than  in  this  war. 
Years  ago  the  Toledo  fad  (which  for  a  time  had  quite 
a  vogue)  of  posting  a  new  cardboard  motto  each  day 
in  school  was  thought  to  make  the  chief  moral  quali- 
ties percolate  into  the  deeper  regions  of  the  soul. 

5  It  is  said  that  the  German  government  early  tabooed  war  pic- 
tures that  represented  doleful  scenes,  and  always  required  happy 
faces.  Not  many  of  these  have  yet  reached  this  country  but  such  of 
them  as  I  have  seen,  at  any  rate,  very  greatly  stress  the  festive  side 
of  war. 

91 


MOKALE 

Christian  Science  has  used  this  method  with  its 
health  axioms.  Calendars  and  card  posters  exhorting 
to  primary  virtues  were  issued  in  series  and  posted, 
with  daily  or  weekly  changes,  in  very  many  factories 
and  in  offices.  These  apothegms  are  thought  to  be 
hardly  less  pregnant  than  Bible  texts  were  once  re- 
garded, and  they  do  have  not  a  magical  but  real  psy- 
chological efficacy  as  morale  bracers.  Posters  of  all 
kinds  short-circuit  books  and  newspapers,  like  the  old 
broadsides,  and  a  chapter  might  be  written  on  posted 
proclamations  in  the  war.  Pictures  find  their  way 
very  effectively  into  the  souls  of  even  those  who  can- 
not read.  These  methods  uncap  impulses  that  may  be 
made  to  spur  men  on  to  great  decisions,  while  if  the 
true  function  of  art  is  to  conserve  ideality  in  the 
world  and  give  to  every  act  its  best  and  not  its  worst 
interpretation,  we  can  realize  that  when  war  throws 
men  back  into  the  power  of  their  primitive  emotions 
such  agencies  as  these  may  have  all  the  challenge  and 
arousing  power  of  the  most  effective  of  th§  old  battle 
cries  and  rallying  slogans.  It  is  true  that  these 
appeals  may  have  precipitated  decisions  to  enlist  or 
give  which  were  later  regretted,  and  perhaps  with 
good  ground.  As  after  revivalistic  conversions  men 
may  backslide,  so  in  soldiers  the  high  tide  that  swept 
them  into  the  army  may  ebb,  but  even  in  such  cases 
part  of  their  total  self  is  committed  for  the  war,  and 
even  in  the  worst  cases  it  is  better  to  have  loved  these 
great  causes  for  a  time  and  have  lapsed  from  them 
than  never  to  have  loved  them  at  all. 

92 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

II.  Medals  and  Decorations. — In  the  Congressional 
Record  of  July  12,  1917,  we  have  the  text  of  a  law 
relating  to  the  award  of  "medals  of  honor"  to  each 
person,  "officer  or  enlisted  man  who  shall  hereafter  in 
action  involving  actual  conflict  with  the  enemy  dis- 
tinguish himself  conspicuously  by  gallantry  and  in- 
trepidity at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  above  and  beyond 
the  call  of  duty."  In  addition,  this  law  provides  for 
a  service  medal  to  be  awarded  by  the  President  for 
distinguished  service  any  time  during  the  last  three 
years,  and  this  is  to  supersede  the  former  certificate 
of  merit.  The  service  medal  involves  added  pay  of 
two  dollars  a  month,  and  for  each  additional  deed  of 
valor,  instead  of  a  new  medal,  the  President  may 
award  another  bar,  each  of  which  bars  also  brings 
another  two  dollars  a  month. 

In  France  the  most  coveted  of  all  is  the  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  (1802)  with  a  motto,  "Honneur  et 
Patrie,"  and  with  five  grades.  Besides  its  veteran's 
medal  to  those  who  fought  in  the  war  of  '70,  the 
French  Croix  de  Guerre  is  given  to  all  officers  or 
privates  for  deeds  of  valor,  especially  on  the  battle- 
field (April,  1915).  This  honors  even  families,  and 
there  is  a  ritual  form  of  conferring  it  which  also  plays 
a  prominent  part  in  funerals.  It  may  be  revoked  for 
unworthy  conduct.  There  is  also  a  military  medal 
(1852)  for  officers  who  have  won  distinction,  which 
may  be  conferred  in  time  of  peace,  besides  many 
colonial  and  foreign  medals.6 

8  A.  Saillard  and  H.  Fougerol :  La  Groins  de  Guerre,  1916. 

93 


MORALE 

In  England  the  war  medal  is  comparatively  modern 
and  culminates  in  the  Victoria  Cross.  But  there  are 
many  types  of  medals  given  in  all  the  important  wars 
since  these  were  established,  some  two  score  in  all.7 

Germany  leads  all  countries,  and  since  the  sixteenth 
century  there  have  been  some  580  different  varieties 
(G.  F.  Hill:  The  Commemorative  Medal  in  the  Serv- 
ice of  German^).  Of  all  these  the  Iron  Cross  is  the 
best  known  and  most  desired.8 

The  Croix  de  Guerre  has  often  been  awarded  to  our 
soldiers  in  France,  and  General  Pershing  says,  "Such 
recognition  is  a  powerful  incentive  to  gallantry  in 
action,  and  American  soldiers  should  not  be  denied 
the  privilege  of  displaying  these  insignia  of  honor  be- 
cause of  the  old  prohibition  of  accepting  decorations 
from  a  foreign  state." 

It  would  seem  that  from  every  psychological  point 
of  view,  and  from  the  higher  pedagogy,  men  who  have 
deliberately  risked  their  lives  in  desperate  ventures 
for  the  public  good  should  be  recognized  as  belonging 
in  some  sense  to  the  elite,  for  such  deeds  are  only  the 
culmination  of  morale.  The  world  honors  its  dead 
heroes ;  why  not  its  living  ones?  What  should  also  be 
done  is  to  see  to  it  that  each  sublime  act  of  courage 
is  duly  and  worthily  recorded  that  it  may  exert  its 
due  and  permanent  influence.  Such  distinctions  set 
a  back-fire  to  the  feeling  often  current  among  soldiers 
that  their  achievements  are  not  sufficiently  recognized 

TW.  A.  Steward:  War  Medals  and  Their  History,  London,  Paul, 

1915.    Also  H.  T.  Dorling:  Ribbons  and  Medals,  London,  Philip,  1916. 

•  Harms  E.  Von  Zobeltitz :  Das  Eiscrne  Kreuz,  Leipzig,  Velhagen, 

94 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

and  that  the  government  seems  to   lack  gratitude. 

III.  Morale  and  war  collections. — The  collection 
instinct,  which  is  illustrated  in  the  life  history  of 
many  insects  and  animals  and  which  is  always  strong 
and  has  often  been  studied  in  children,  has  found  un- 
precedented expressions  concerning  this  war. .  Many 
children  and  schools  in  all  the  belligerent  countries, 
many  of  which  already  have  their  war  cabinet  of 
curios,  have  assembled  relics  and  reminders,  largely 
local,  of  all  kinds  of  material  illustrating  altogether 
every  phase  of  the  great  conflict  both  at  home  and  at 
the  front.  In  Germany  school  prizes  were  offered  for 
the  best  poems  and  compositions.  Both  were  collected 
by  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  awards  duly  made. 

War  is  such  a  unique  experience  that  its  conditions, 
sentiments,  and  activities  tend  to  fade  from  realiza- 
tion like  a  bad  dream  as  nothing  else  can  do,  for  no- 
where is  the  envisagemeut  of  full  reality  so  intoler- 
able; and  there  is  a  strong  instinct,  lest  we  forget,  to 
gather  relics  and  mementoes  to  keep  it  alive  in  our 
own  minds  and  to  ensure  the  perpetuation  of  its  grim 
actualities  for  future  generations.  War  museums  of 
every  kind  are  thus  in  a  sense  temples  of  morale  and 
protests  against  its  obliteration. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  describe  these  vast  activities 
in  detail,  but  a  few  data  will  show  their  scope  and 
their  purpose.  In  the  first  few  days  of  mobilization 
Henri  Leblanc  and  his  wife  began  to  gather 
objects  in  France,  and  their  collection,  now 
numbering  nearly  one  quarter  of  a  million  ar- 

95 


MORALE 

tides,  lias  been  taken  over  and  given  elabo- 
rate and  fitting  quarters  by  the  Ministry  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction  and  Fine  Arts,  and  its  catalogue  is  be- 
ing published  volume  by  volume.9  England  followed 
suit,  and  established  a  national  war  museum  under  Sir 
Martin  Con  way,  which  is  formulated  on  a  very  com- 
prehensive plan.10  Sir  Martin  estimates  that  his  mu- 
seum, if  properly  housed,  will  require  about  five  acres 
of  ground  to  exhibit  all  the  apparatus  of  war  that  has 
been  accumulated.  There  is  a  branch  illustrating 
woman's  work,  with  figurines  about  ten  inches  in 
height  showing  work  not  only  in  hospitals  but  on  the 
land  and  in  the  occupations  of  men  which  she  filled 
during  the  war.  The  goal  is  the  needs  of  the  future  his- 
torian, who  has  no  such  material  at  his  disposal  now 
concerning,  e.  g.,  the  Napoleonic  or  any  other  wars. 
The  aim  is  to  collect  material  of  first-hand  nature — 
photographs  from  airplanes,  field  maps,  diaries,  photo- 
graphs of  individual  soldiers  for  future  anthropology, 
and  there  is  a  State  Paper  Office  containing  all  kinds 
of  official  records.  A.  G.  Doughty,  Minister  and  Di- 
rector of  War  Trophies  in  Canada,  is  supervising  a 
comprehensive  collection  of  that  country  illustrating 
the  achievements  of  every  unit,  extending  even  to 
soldiers'  diaries;  while  the  Canadian  War  Archives 
Survey  devotes  itself  to  every  source  of  information 
about  governmental  activities,  including  not  only 
posters  but  war  money,  stamps,  proclamations,  etc. 

8  Henri  Leblanc :  La  Grande  Guerre;    Iconographie,  Bibliographic, 
Documents  Divers,  i-iv.,  Paris,  Emile  Paul.  1916-18. 

10 See  catalogue  of  Imperial  War  Museum,  London  (no  date). 

96 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

The  great  national  libraries  of  Europe  and  a  few 
libraries  in  this  country  have  made  special  collec- 
tions of  war  literature,  but  in  all  these  fields  the  ma- 
terial is  so  voluminous  that  not  only  most  private 
collectors  but  heads  of  great  institutions  have  been 
discouraged,  and  it  is  now  recognized  that  very  much 
of  this  material  is  so  fugitive  that  it  is  beyond  reach 
unless  it  is  gathered  very  promptly  at  the  time. 
A  really  adequate  assemblage  of  all  this  material 
can  never  be  found  in  any  single  institution  or 
even  in  any  single  country.  As  early  as  August,  1914, 
the  Imperial  Library  in  Berlin  set  apart  fifteen  mem- 
bers of  its  staff  to  collect,  sort,  classify,  and  cata- 
logue war  literature.  Agents  were  sent  abroad  to  all 
countries,  and  patriotic  appeals  were  made  to  private 
individuals  the  world  over.  Early  in  1916  there  were 
10,000  books,  and  in  a  single  day  four  and  one  half 
tons  of  newspapers  arrived. 

The  French  museum,  which  so  far  as  objects  are 
concerned  excels  all  others,  collects  everything:  fire- 
arms and  projectiles  of  all  kinds,  uniforms,  medals, 
insignia,  postcards,  war  fashions  in  dress  at  home, 
illustrations  of  everything  connected  with  feeding  the 
army  as  well  as  home  dietaries  and  food  substitutes, 
trench  journals,  processes  of  manufacture  and  trans- 
portation of  munitions  and  supplies,  army  wagons, 
transports,  Zeppelins,  airplanes,  submarines,  soldiers' 
letters,  posters,  slogans,  knapsacks,  grenades,  Min- 
nenwerfers,  gas  masks  and  generators,  innumerable 
photographs  of  devastated  regions  and  wrecked 

97 


MORALE 

buildings,  of  atrocities,  mutilations  and  corpse- 
strewn  battlefields,  flags,  and  scrap-books.  Dolls 
and  figurines  are  used  to  illustrate  many  proc- 
esses. There  is  a  department  for  camouflage 
and  protective  coloring  generally,  engineering, 
gas  alarm  gongs,  trench  signs,  street-lamp  Shades 
to  conceal  from  airplanes,  explosive  pencils,  means 
of  infecting  the  enemy  and  his  animals  with  disease, 
infernal  machines,  bombs,  devices  for  incendi- 
arism and  looting.  Very  complete  is  the  representa- 
tion of  medical  activities,  pictures  and  documents 
showing  all  the  marvels  of  surgery, — even  the  details 
of  how  features  and  parts  of  the  face  torn  away  are 
restored, — how  to  treat  every  kind  of  wound,  artificial 
limbs,  disinfection,  uses  of  the  Carrel  processes  and 
of  the  Dakin  fluid,  tents,  and  sanitary  barracks. 
Sometimes  the  illustrations  are  by  models,  but  when 
possible  the  objects  themselves  are  displayed.  We 
have  also  a  German  plan  which  is  hardly  less  com- 
plete, but  I  can  find  no  data  to  show  how  far  this  work 
has  actually  been  developed  there. 

Indeed  the  work  of  nearly  all  museums  has  been 
more  or  less  stimulated  and  diverted.  In  museums  of 
Natural  History,  for  example,  it  is  shown  how  killing 
birds  that  destroy  noxious  insects  and  weed  seeds 
helps  the  enemy,  so  that  a  boy  who  robs  the  nest  of 
such  a  bird  is  a  traitor  without  knowing  it ;  for  insects 
are  as  harmful  as  bullets.  The  same  is  true  of  keeping 
down  rodents  that  destroy  one  hundred  million  dol- 
lars' worth  of  food  here  per  year,  and  we  may  need  Lib- 

98 


PLACARDS,  SLOGANS,  DECORATIONS 

erty  Bonds  to  pay  tribute  to  the  mosquito, gypsy  moth, 
English  sparrow,  etc.  One  museum  specializes  on  dye- 
stuffs,  designs,  native  foods,  and  fabrics  significant  for 
war.  Some  have  done  research,  others  have  invoked 
the  aid  of  children.  One  attends  chiefly  to  trade- 
marks, while  there  are  many  collections  of  cartoons. 

The  romance  of  war  in  the  days  of  chivalry  has 
gone,  and.  the  concept  that  dominates  everything  now 
is  efficiency,  which  gives  a  new  ideal  even  to  art.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  a  rudimentary  Westminster 
or  Walhalla  be  established  in  every  town  or  county, 
containing  medals,  portraits,  and  a  vellum  volume 
with  the  name  and  the  significant  items  in  the  life 
of  every  fallen  soldier.  This  would,  be  an  epitome 
of  local  heroism,  and  would  help  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  and  influence  particularly  of  those  who  have 
gone  to  a  watery  grave  and  whose  bodies  must  remain 
unidentified.  These  would  be  perpetual  incentives  to 
self-sacrifice  and  would  give  zest  to  local  history 
teaching. 

The  necessity  of  such  collections  for  the  future  his- 
torian is  obvious.  The  interest  of  the  public  in  them 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  admission  fees  to  the  Henri 
Leblanc  collection  in  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  it  is  esti- 
mated, will  bring  a  revenue  of  some  half  a  million 
francs  a  year.  But  their  chief  value  for  morale  is  that 
the  very  awfulness  and  unnaturalness  of  war  tend  to 
make  its  memory  shrink  and  fade,  so  far  as  proper 
realization  of  it  is  concerned,  to  a  degree  that  perhaps 
only  a  psychologist  can  realize.  To-day  the  world 

99 


MORALE 

with  one  accord  has  swung  over  from  the  war  fever  to 
its  opposite,  and  the  desire  for  peace  was  never  so 
strong.  The  function  of  these  collections  is  to  per- 
petuate tbis  reaction  by  keeping  the  memory  of  all 
the  ghastliness  of  war  green,  by  keeping  before  the 
public  mind  what  we  owe  to  our  soldiers,  to  whose 
deeds  and  sufferings  such  collections  are  one  of  the 
most  fitting  monuments,  and  to  supply  artists  and 
writers  of  all  kinds  with  details  that  would  otherwise 
soon  be  lost.  If,  as  some  claim,  human  nature  after 
a  long  period  of  peace  tends  to  revert  to  a  state  of  war, 
familiarity  with  these  objects  would  tend  in  some  de- 
gree to  vicariate  for  the  actuality  of  war  and,  if  it 
comes,  would  also  tend  to  nerve  the  souls  of  our  de- 
scendants to  its  hardships  and  vicissitudes. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

I.  Morale  and  sex  in  war — The  effects  of  war  upon  this  instinct— > 
Governmental  prophylaxis — Moralizing  methods  in  camp — II. 
What  women  have  done  and  can  do  to  sustain  morale — Their 
attitude  toward  the  soldier. 

I.  Morale  and  sev. — This  has  always  been  as  vital 
as  it  is  a  delicate  problem  with  soldiers  in  camp  and 
in  field,  in  peace  and  in  war.  The  Vienna  surgeon, 
Billroth,  long  ago  gave  us  a  graphic  account  of  the 
introduction  of  syphilis  into  Europe  by  the  soldiers 
that  returned  from  Mexico  soon  after  the  discovery  of 
America,  and  told  us  how  the  infection  spread  like  a 
plague  before  the  always  slow  but  sure  development 
of  at  least  partial  immunity  which  time  brings.  Where 
soldiers  are  gathered  not  only  do  lewd  women  congre- 
gate, but  such  is  the  fascination  of  the  uniform  that 
there  is  always  a  great  increase  of  free  liaisons  with 
previously  pure  girls.1  The  German  policy  is  to  as- 
sume that  there  will  be  irregularities  and  to  instruct 
every  soldier  in  the  use  of  preventive  and  prompt 
curative  measures  and  to  rely  but  little  upon  moral 
prophylaxis.  In  England  and  this  country  preventive 
methods  and  moral  suasion  are  more  relied  upon,  and 

1  See  another  somewhat  unique  French  relation  of  the  sexes  in  H. 
de  Vismes :  Histoire  Authentique  et  Touchante  des  Marraines  et 
Filleuls  de  Guerre  (Paris  :  Perrin,  1918),  and  for  a  worse  side  see  G.  A. 
Schreiner:  The  Iron  Ration,  XIX  (N.  Y.:  Harper,  1918). 

101 


the  infected  soldier  is  compelled  and  sometimes  co- 
erced by  penalties  to  report  promptly  for  treatment. 
With  us  there  is  still  shame  enough  so  that  this  acts 
as  a  deterrent,  and  we  have  more  faith  than  the  Ger- 
mans in  admonition  and  warning  to  keep  men  straight. 
War  is,  in  a  sense,  the  acme  of  what  some  now  call 
the  manly  protest.  In  peace  women  have  invaded 
nearly  all  of  the  occupations  of  man,  but  in  war  male 
virtues  come  to  the  fore,  for  women  cannot  go  "over 
the  top."  Some  have  even  ascribed  one  of  the  fasci- 
nations of  soldiering  to  the  half-conscious  satisfaction 
men  feel  that  here  they  have  escaped  female  competi- 
tion and  found  a  field  in  which  their  own  activities 
can  have  free  course  without  the  rivalry  of  the  other 
sex.  We  may  at  least  hope  that  the  world  will  not 
have  to  conserve  war  as  the  only  field  which  woman 
has  not  entered  and  where  alone  man  can  cultivate 
the  qualities  that  distinguish  him  from  the  other  sex. 
The  two  chief  elements  in  human  nature  are:  (1)  In- 
dividuation,  which  bottoms  on  hunger  and  which  in 
the  first  dozen  years  of  life  prevails;  and  (2)  genesis 
or  the  transmission  of  life  to  future  generations, 
about  which  the  home  and  so  many  other  institutions 
of  society  center.  It  seems  that  in  war  the  first  of 
these  tendencies  is  chiefly  stressed.  The  Freudian  the- 
ory that  general  anxiety,  out  of  which  all  the  phobias, 
most  neuroses,  and  about  all  psychoses  evolve,  can 
always  ultimately  be  traced  to  some  flaw  in  the  vita 
sexualis  has  been  refuted  often  by  the  experiences  of 
shell  shock,  which  is  always  connected  not  with  sex 

102 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

or  race  but  with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation. 

Our  government  very  wisely  made  often  rather 
drastic  conditions,  first  for  the  location  of  camps  and 
afterwards  for  their  regimen,  with  a  view  to  mini- 
mizing the  dangers  from  this  source.  A  five-  and  in 
some  cases  a  ten-mile  zone  of  purity  was  drawn  about 
the  cantonment,  and  in  every  camp  some  special  in- 
struction was  given.  When  a  man  has  drilled  and 
worked  eight  or  twelve  hours  a  day  he  is  little  prone 
at  night  to  go  any  great  distance  to  satisfy  his  fleshly 
instinct,  and  fatigue  has  sometimes  been  specially 
cultivated  as  a  safeguard. 

Now,  war  involves  the  most  intense  of  the  activities 
of  both  body  and  mind,  and  we  know  now  that  chasti- 
ty and  self-control  are  essential  prerequisites  in  en- 
abling men  to  undergo  all  kinds  of  war  strain.  We 
do  not  understand  precisely  how  the  hormones  from 
the  sex  organs  find  their  way  to  the  higher  centers, 
but  it  is  certain  that  they  do  and  that  those  guilty  of 
self-indulgence  have  less  reserve  to  draw  upon  for  any 
emergency.  Sex  is  the  most  capable  of  metamorphosis 
of  any  human  instinct,  and  the  study  of  sex  per- 
versions and  erotic  fetishes  shows  that  it  can  become 
associated  with  almost  any  object  or  any  act.  Erethic 
symptoms  may  be  connected  with  almost  anything  so 
that  it  may  cause  excitement.  Even  fervent  prayer 
and  other  religious  exercises  and  experiences  may 
excite  it ;  and  it  has  no  end  of  surrogates  in  the  im- 
agination of  which  it  is  the  greatest  of  all  stimulat- 
ors. The  soldier,  like  the  pugilist  training  for  a 

103 


MOKALE 

championship  bout,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  higher 
hygiene  really  ought  to,  and  does  entirely  forego,  for 
the  time  being,  the  exercise  of  the  procreative  func- 
tion. It  should  by  every  means  be  held  in  abeyance. 
The  reciprocal  relation  between  it  and  intensive  ac- 
tivity of  body  and  mind  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
those  who  suffer  most  from  war  strain  are  very  often 
impaired  in  their  quality  of  parenthood.  This  con- 
clusion of  eugenics  now  rests  upon  data  that  can 
hardly  be  disputed,  although  we  are  certain  in  the 
near  future  to  know  much  more  about  it  in  detail. 
Mcolai  even  states  that  he  cannot  find  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  world  who  was  sired  by  a  soldier 
who  had  been  through  severe  campaigns. 

Again,  all,  and  especially  young  people,  need  excite- 
ment. They  crave  and  seek  it,  and  in  forbidden  ways 
if  normal  and  legitimate  ones  are  not  open  to  them. 
The  young  man  longs  to  tingle  and  glow,  to  let  him- 
self go  until  he  feels  something  within  take  him  up 
and  carry  him  along  with  a  strength  not  his  own.  In 
some  cases  an  explosion  of  anger  has  cleared  the  air 
like  a  thunder  storm  and  brought  "the  peace  that 
passeth  understanding"  afterwards.  An  ebullition  of 
fear  or  any  other  strong  emotion  brings  a  kind  of  re- 
enforcement.  The  psychology  of  alcohol  shows  that 
most  people  drink  for  the  heightened  vitality  of  mind 
or  body  that  it  brings,  rather  than  for  the  mere  physi- 
cal pleasure  of  imbibing  liquor.  If,  therefore,  we 
wish  to  establish  the  condition  where  sex  excitement 
is  liable  to  break  out  and  pass  beyond  all  control,  we 

104 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

have  only  to  make  life  dull,  uninteresting,  mo- 
notonous, and  especially  to  take  out  of  it  all  strenu- 
ous endeavor.  Thus  again  we  can  see  how  war  of  all 
the  occupations  of  man,  because  it  is  the  most  excit- 
ing and  the  most  strenuous,  makes  not  only  possible 
but  imperative  for  its  supreme  success  the  highest 
degree  of  chastity. 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  war  in  the  past  seems  to 
have  tended  to  the  opposite  result.  The  very  increase 
of  vigor  that  drill  and  camp  activity  and  regimen  im- 
pose predisposes  to  temptation.  Moreover,  there  is  a 
deep,  old  racial  instinct  that  finds  partial  expression 
in  the  phrase,  "None  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair." 
Primitive  man  and  even  animals  often  engaged  in 
their  most  violent  conflicts  for  females,  who  were  the 
reward  of  victory,  and  this  has  been  a  potent  factor 
in  making  the  best  survive.  It  is  thus  that  the  strong- 
est have  left  progeny.  There  is  nothing  that  the  fe- 
male, human  or  animal,  more  admires  or  finds  more 
seductive  than  the  prowess  that  wins  a  conflict,  for 
that  means  the  power  of  defense  and  protection  of 
herself  and  her  young.  Thus  it  is  that  soldiers  on 
leave  have  to  meet  special  temptations. 

Moreover,  the  very  hardships  and  brutalities  of  war, 
the  harshness  of  discipline,  and  the  exhaustion  of 
training  and  encounters  tend  to  ebb  ambivalently  so 
that  the  soldier  feels  that  he  has,  in  a  sense,  earned 
the  right  to  self-indulgence  and  instinctively  turns  to 
the  more  tender  and  now  more  alluring  companion- 
ship of  the  other  sex. 

105 


MORALE 

Again,  war  always  tends  to  loosen  family  bonds. 
It  brings  perhaps  a  long  separation  of  husband  and 
wife,  and  hence  former  moral  restraints  tend  to  relax, 
so  that  we  now  have  new  theories  galore  that  look  to- 
ward greater  license.  Lapses  tend  more  or  less  to  be 
condoned.  The  tempter  has  a  larger  field  at  home,  and 
the  man  in  the  field,  perhaps  realizing  this,  allows 
himself  unwonted  liberties.  Eugenic  theories  are 
sometimes  invoked,  and  perhaps  never  was  the  whole 
subject  of  the  relation  of  the  sexes  more  open  in  the 
secret  thoughts  and  hearts  of  men  and  women  in 
ways  that  have  sometimes  found  expression  in  speech 
and  print  so  shocking  to  more  conservative  minds. 
The  very  tension  of  absence  and  abstinence  makes  the 
mind  more  open,  not  merely  to  dreameries  but  to  the- 
ories that  vicariate  for  the  new  restraints  and  the  new 
temptations. 

In  view  of  these  conditions  what  does  morale  in  this 
field  demand?  I  reply: 

1.  Perhaps  first  of  all  that  the  very  closest  relation 
be  maintained  with  home  and  with  friends.  Mother, 
sister,  sweetheart,  and  wife  now  have  the  opportu- 
nity and  incentive  to  make  their  influence  more  effec- 
tive in  keeping  the  absent  son,  brother,  lover,  and  hus- 
band loyal  and  pure.  They  should  realize  this  respon- 
sibility and  exert  it  to  the  uttermost,  and  "keep  the 
home  fires  burning"  in  the  heart  of  the  soldier  by 
every  means  in  their  power, — by  frequent  and  wise 
letters,  gifts  and  reminders, — and  make  him  feel 
that  the  family  ties,  however  far  they  have  been 

106 


stretched,  are  not  broken  nor  can  they  be  broken. 

2.  Camp  activities  not  immediately  connected  with 
war  have  perhaps  the  second  place.    Eeal  and  espe- 
cially  active   interest   in    camp  music,  in  the  camp 
library,  in  dramatics  and  every  kind  of  entertainment, 
incentives  to  learn  the  French  language  and  geogra- 
phy, to  peruse  war  literature,  and,  perhaps  best  of  all, 
to  carry  on  any  line  of  study  to  which  the  educated 
soldier  may  have  been  devoted — all  these  have  their 
place  here.     Best  of  all  are  athletic  games  and  con- 
tests.   Everyone  who  has  a  specialty  of  any  kind  that 
can  interest  others  or  stimulate  competition,  or  make 
him  feel  himself  more  useful  has  also  a  salutary,  al- 
terative function. 

3.  In  place  of  direct  instruction  ("highbrow  smut- 
talks"),  which  has  little  effect,    there   have   been    a 
few  brief  leaflets  that  must  have  been  very  effective. 
The  medical  examiner  and  subordinate  officers  can, 
if  informed  of,  or  awake  to  their  opportunities,  often 
drop  side  remarks  in  the  most  incidental  way,  which 
the  soldier  seizes  with  avidity  because  he  does  not  con- 
sider that  they  are  aimed  at  him.    The  best  occasion 
for  this  is  during  the  physical  examination  when  the 
question  is  whether  the  recruit  "strips  well."    We 
should  remember  that  in  the  field  of  sex  the  briefest 
hint,  which  could  ideally  be  dropped  as  if  its  author 
were  entirely  unconscious  of  its  significance,  will  be 
understood    and    assimilated    most    uniquely.      Sex 
teaching  is  not  like  teaching  a  school  subject,  as  so 
many  of  the  swarm  of  men  and  women  who  have  lately 

107 


MOKALE 

written  upon  it  assume.  The  principle  should  be  ver- 
bum  sapieniis  sat,  and  nothing  is  more  offensive  to  a 
healthy  soul  than  to  read  or  hear  the  platitudes  spun 
to  such  tedious  length  as  in  several  scores  of  books  of 
this  character  which  I  have  collected  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  physician  is  far  more  ef- 
fective here  than  the  clergyman  or  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
man.  A  physical  trainer  in  one  of  our  largest  col- 
leges, who  has  had  a  score  of  years'  experience,  tells 
me  that  in  single  remarks  which  he  makes  it  a  point 
casually  to  throw  out  at  the  moment  he  has  a  student 
stripped  for  measurements,  he  believes  he  has  done 
more  good  than  in  all  the  stated  lectures  it  has  been 
his  duty  to  give. 

4.  Scare-talks  on  the  dangers  of  infection  no 
doubt  did  once,  and  still  in  some  cases  do  have  great 
effect,  but  there  is  little  new  here  now  even  to  the 
average  private,  and  familiarity  with  this  sort  of 
thing  has  immunized  the  souls  of  most  so  that  it  has 
little  effect.  The  ideal,  too,  of  keeping  oneself  pure 
for  the  sake  of  wife  or  posterity  still  has  its  effect,  al- 
though, this  has  perhaps  of  late  been  rather  over- 
worked. Its  appeal  ought,  of  course,  to  be  very 
strong.  Dissuasion  on  religious  grounds  probably 
counts  with  more  soldiers,  and  here  we  must  admit 
that  the  priest  has  shown  himself  in  general  far  more 
effective  than  the  Protestant  clergyman.  I  believe 
that  the  most  effective  appeal  of  all,  however,  can  be 
made  on  the  basis  of  bodily  and  mental  perfection. 
Every  young  man  has  athletic  interests,  and  if  he  can 

108 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

be  shown  that  purity  is  the  best  way  of  keeping  the 
body  at  the  very  top  of  its  condition  and  of  laying  iii 
a  larger  store  of  reserves  against  every  emergency,  an 
essential  step  is  taken  to  make  him  a  practical  idealist 
in  this  field.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  chief 
reliance  will  always  have  to  be  placed  upon  diversions 
and  physical  regimen,  because  we  are  dealing  here 
with  an  urge  that  has  its  origin  and  deploys  largely 
far  below  the  threshold  of  consciousness.  At  no  point 
does  morale  coincide  more  closely  with  morality.  As 
transcendental  sanctions  are  losing  their  power,  we 
must  build  up  on  a  natural  basis  a  new  prophylaxis 
and  be  able  to  show  that  anything  is  right  or  wrong 
according  as  it  is  physiologically  and  socially  right 
or  wrong,  and  precisely  this  the  new  sex  psychology  is 
now  engaged  in  doing. 

5.  Only  the  few  intelligent  officers  or  graduates 
will  find  help,  and  they  will  find  great  aid  for  them- 
selves and  for  a  few  of  their  more  intelligent  friends 
whom  they  can  influence,  in  the  new  and  larger  inter- 
pretation of  sex  that  psychanalysis  has  revealed. 
Normality  of  the  function  that  transmits  life  involves 
more  and  more  emphasis  upon  secondary  sex  quali- 
ties; more  spiritualization  of  sex;  a  realization  that 
moral,  social,  religious,  and  intellectual  life,  and  not 
only  that  but  sanity,  emotional,  volitional,  and  intel- 
lectual, depend  upon  the  proper  regulation  of  this 
function.  War  is  lost  or  won  chiefly  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  secondary  sex  qualities,  and  this  principle 
roots  deep  and  blossoms  high. 

109 


MOKALE 

II.  Woman  and  morale. — Never  have  women  played 
such  a  part  in  war.2  ,We  are  told  that  in  all  the  war- 
ring countries  they  have  done  more  work  than  men 
with  munitions,  food  and  especially  the  canned  va- 
rieties, hospital  and  surgical  appliances,  and  have 
also  taken  man's  place  in  almost  every  peaceful  in- 
dustry. Her  enfranchisement  in  many  aspects  of  this 
great  movement  has  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds 
since  the  war  began.  It  has  also  opened  as  never  be- 
fore the  whole  question  of  the  relation  of  the  sexes  in 
all  its  aspects.  The  mobilization  of  woman  power  and 
its  substitution  for  man  power  has  given  her  an  equal 
place  in  the  sun.  She  can  now  or  will  soon  be  able  to 
cast  a  ballot  and  be  a  citizen  in  practically  every 
country  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  every  American  state. 
If,  however,  she  had  the  opportunity  to  and  could  do 
everything  as  well  as  man,  or  better,  and  did  not  bring 
her  woman's  viewpoint  into  the  new  paths  and  func- 
tions now  open,  all  this  would  mean  nothing  save 
doubling  our  lists  of  voters  and  workers.  She  would 

'See  Ida  Clyde  Clarke:  American  Women  and  the  World  War, 
544,  N.  Y.:  Appleton,  1918;  Harriot  S.  Blatch:  Mobilizing  Woman- 
Power,  194,  N.  Y. :  The  Woman's  Press,  1918;  Henry  Spont :  La 
Femme  et  la  Guerre,  268,  Paris :  Perrin,  1916 ;  J.  Combarieu :  Lea 
Jeunes  Filles  Francoises  et  la  Guerre,  297,  Paris :  Flammarion,  1915. 
Helen  Fraser :  Women  and  War  Work,  308,  N.  Y. ;  Shaw,  1918.  Irene 
O.  Andrews :  Economic  Effects  of  the  War  upon  Women  and  Children 
in  Great  Britain,  190,  N.  Y.:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1918.  Gertrude 
Atherton:  The  Living  Present,  303,  N.  Y. :  Stokes,  1917;  Lady 
Randolph  Churchill,  Editor:  Women's  War  Work,  159,  London: 
Pearson,  1916. 

A  student  of  this  subject  must  give  a  prominent  place  also  to  the 
unique  cult  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  that  broke  out  in  France  some  years 
before  the  war  and  has  been  greatly  heightened  by  it.  La  Pucelle  has 
now  a  national  holiday  in  which  the  descendants  of  the  very  English- 
men who  fought  against  France  in  those  days  now  join  (see  in  W. 
Stephens:  The  France  I  Know,  Chapter  XIV,  The  Cult  of  Jeanne 
d'Arc). 

110 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

have  won  nothing  if  she  did  not  realize  and  now  say 
that  the  advent  of  her  sex  into  industrial  and  politi- 
cal life  must  materially  change  its  character  and  goal. 
Hence  the  vital  problem  in  this  her  great  epoch  is  to 
introduce  the  best  traits  of  her  sex  into  public  and  eco- 
nomic life. 

Woman  is  nearer  to  the  race  in  body  and  soul  and 
is  a  better  representative  of  the  species  than  man.  She 
is  more  phylogenetic  than  ontogenetic,  more  altruistic 
than  egoistic.  She  stands  for  the  future  and  the  past 
and  is  charged  with  the  interests  of  posterity  in  a 
very  different  sense  and  degree  from  man.  The  true 
woman  ranks  and  grades  every  human  institution 
according  to  its  service  in  producing  and  rearing  suc- 
cessive generations  to  an  ever  more  complete  matu- 
rity. We  need  to  understand  and  appreciate  in  con- 
scious plans  what  woman  more  unconsciously  always 
and  everywhere  chiefly  wants,  viz.,  an  environment 
most  favorable  for  her  great  function  of  conserving 
and  replenishing  the  race.  Because  she  is  more  gen- 
eric than  man  and  more  liable  to  be  injured  by  exces- 
sive and  premature  specialization,  she  needs  more 
shelter  and  protection  and  responds  subtly  to  every- 
thing of  this  kind.  Hence  it  comes  that  if  she  is  de- 
nied the  normal  expression  of  her  basal  instincts  she 
is  liable  to  become  frivolous  or  anxious,  to  immolate 
herself  by  becoming  a  slave  or  devotee  to  some  cause, 
or  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  many  types  of  subtle  invalid- 
ism  to  which  she  is  so  liable. 

Thus  the  new  post-bellum  world  should  be  more  of 

111 


MORALE 

a  woman's  world,  not  in  the  sense  of  the  old  matri- 
archate  but  in  a  way  that  will  bring  to  her  and  her 
apostolate  for  the  race  a  new  reverence.  These  are 
the  real  woman's  rights.  It  is  thus  her  task  to  re- 
evaluate  the  world  and  all  its  institutions — business, 
trade,  state,  church,  science — by  the  supreme  test  of 
their  service  in  bringing  future  generations  to  an  ever 
more  complete  maturity.  Thus  we  must  regard  the 
voice  of  Ellen  Key  and  those  who  agree  with  her  as 
more  or  less  oracular  as  to  what  woman  needs,  wants, 
and  can  and  should  try  to  do  for  the  morale  of  this 
great  reconstruction  era. 

When  the  war  came,  the  noblest  war  brides,  moth- 
ers, sweethearts,  and  sisters  said,  "Go!"3  They  con- 
demned slackers  ("If  I  had  not  gone  I  could  not  get 
near  a  girl").  Mothers  wept,  but  secretly,  and  dared 
not  to  try  to  restrain  their  even  young  boys  who  felt 
the  call,  but  sent  them  off  with  a  blessing  and  a  cheer. 
Many  wives  took  up  the  struggle  of  self-support,  per- 
haps accepting  charity  for  the  first  time,  and  the  best 
husbands  and  sons  understood  later,  though  some  of 
them  did  not  at  first.  Women  kept  up  every  possible 
connection  between  their  dear  ones  at  the  front  and 
their  home,  concealing  everything  that  could  cause 
pain  and  showing  only  courage  and  good  cheer,  dis- 
guising everything  that  was  bad  or  discouraging,  slow 
to  criticize  but  swift  to  praise  and  hearten,  and  them- 
selves bearing  up  if  their  loved  ones  were  wounded, 

1 11.  W.  F. :  Silver  Lining.  The  Experiences  of  a  War  Bride,  45, 
Boston:  Houghton,  Mifflin,  1918;  also  Boy  of  My  Heart,  221,  Lon- 
don: Hodder  &  Stoughton,  1916. 

112 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

crippled,  or  even  slain,  with  a  composure  and  heroism 
which  none,  least  of  all  they  themselves,  dreamed  they 
possessed.  The  reveries  of  a  happy  home-coming, 
dreams  sometimes  not  to  be  realized,  are  often  the 
chief  consoler  in  hardships  at  the  front,  where  home 
is  idealized  as  nowhere  else. 

And  now  women  must  take  up  the  burden  of  re- 
plenishing the  earth,  of  making  good  the  loss  of  the 
seven  million  dead  and  the  far  more  partially  incapac- 
itated which  the  war  has  caused.  The  inequality  of 
the  sexes  thus  occasioned  will  soon  be  restored,  for 
statistics  show  that  in  hard  times  more  boys  than  girls 
are  born.  The  war  sentiment  will  now  make  it  harder 
for  healthy  women  to  refuse  wedlock  and  motherhood 
and  to  be  slackers  to  this  call,  for  the  pains  of  war 
make  those  of  childbirth  seem  small  by  contrast.  For 
this  service  women  must  volunteer,  for  we  trust  we 
shall  never  have  drafts  for  motherhood,  such  as  were 
wrongly  ascribed  to  the  Bolsheviki.  The  revolt  of  wo- 
man, the  organization  of  which  has  actually  been  at- 
tempted, against  giving  to  the  world  sons  who  are  go- 
ing to  be  cannon  fodder  is  not  so  unnatural,  for  why 
should  one  rear  children  only  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
war  Moloch,  world  without  end?  But  she  now  has 
more  hope  than  ever  before  in  the  world  to  encourage 
her  to  face  this  chance,  trusting  that  her  children's 
children,  at  least,  will  be  supermen  of  peace  and  make 
an  end  of  war  forever.  It  is  the  generals  of  peace  now 
at  the  helm  who  ought  to  be  inspired  by  the  ideal  mo- 
rale of  women  to  make  a  world  such  as  she  will  count 

113 


MORALE 

it  her  noblest  honor  and  privilege  to  populate.  If 
eugenics  is  to  be  the  religion  of  the  future,  as  Galton 
said,  women  will  be  its  priestesses,  for  the  world  a 
century  or  two  hence  will  belong  to  those  races  and 
nations  that  bear  and  rear  the  most  and  the  best  chil- 
dren. 

Perhaps  the  much  debated  Ewige  Weibliche  may 
now  take  more  definite  shape  as  the  best  embodiment 
of  morale  in  the  world.  Anthropologists  have  told  us 
much  of  the  primitive  reverence  of  the  seer-like,  intu- 
itive, prophetic  traits  of  women,  and  perhaps  we 
might  now  properly  lay  a  single  tiny  twig  of  laurel 
upon  the  grave  of  Auguste  Comte  for  the  place  he  gave 
woman  in  his  Politique.  We  can  also  recognize  the 
deep  human  instinct  that  prompted  the  French  revo- 
lutionists to  make  the  cult  of  her  divinity  a  religion, 
for  as  great  upheavals  of  society  throw  men  back 
upon  first  principles  and  lay  bare  the  fundamental  if 
unconscious  instincts,  there  is  a  profound  tendency  to 
make  the  more  naive  soul  of  womanhood  oracular  be- 
cause her  soul,  like  that  of  the  child,  seems  nearer  to 
that  of  the  great  Autos  itself. 

The  danger  as  the  war  closes  is  that  women  who 
have  been  so  dazzled  by  its  splendors  that  they  are 
now  rarely  pacifists,  when  they  find  themselves  in  bit- 
ter competition  for  jobs  with  the  home-coming  soldiers 
whom  they  have  idealized  and  who  perhaps  will  be 
even  more  ruthless  and  unchivalrous  toward  them  in 
this  domain  because  the  horrors  of  war  have  made 
them  a  little  more  callous,  will  be  more  or  less  disen- 

114 


MORALE,  SEX,  AND  WOMEN 

chanted  with  them  and  with  life.4  The  demobilization 
of  the  great  auxiliary  armies  of  women  raises,  there- 
fore, the  question  of  what  substitutes  for  the  excite- 
ments of  war-work  they  can  find  in  peace,  and  what 
mitigations  or  consolations  may  be  found  in  this  new 
aspect  of  the  war  of  sex  against  sex.  Is  there  not  dan- 
ger that  each  will  to  the  other  be  robbed  of  some  of 
the  glamour  with  which  war  has  invested  them  both 
in  the  eyes  of  the  other?  This  would  be  disastrous,  not 
only  economically  but  socially,  and  would  not  be  in 
the  interests  of  wedlock  or  eugenics,  nor  indeed  of 
morals  themself.  I  can  see  no  way  of  entirely  avoid- 
ing this  danger,  which  seems  to  me  grave,  but  we  can 
at  least  hope  that  the  new  psychology,  which  is  most 
opportunely  at  the  door  and  which  stresses  the  all- 
dominance  of  unconscious  and  affective  forces,  and 
which  might  almost  be  heralded  as  the  advent  of  the 
Womansoul  into  psychology,  will  in  time  mitigate 
this  danger  and  slowly  evolve  a  new  atmosphere  of 
appreciation  and  respect  of  woman's  services  in  every 
walk  of  life,  which  will  give  her  the  spiritual  milieu 
without  which  she  is  so  prone  to  go  to  pieces.  If  in 
utilizing  the  new  opportunities  that  suffrage  in  about 
all  the  warring  countries  brings  to  her,  she  can  make 
herself  in  this  the  greatest  crisis  in  the  history  of  her 
sex  more  womanly  and  not  more  manlike,  she  will,  as 
the  world  slips  back  into  peace,  do  most  to  make  it  a 
new  and  better  one. 

*  Martin  Seeker:    Women,  128,  London:  1918. 


CHAPTER  VII 

WAR    AIMS    AND    KNOWLEDGE 

I.  The  need  of  soldiers  to  know  what  they  are  fighting  for — IT.  The 
three  stages  of  news-getting  by  the  American  Press — Censorship 
— The  German  system  of  espionage  and  some  methods  of  propa- 
ganda—The great  need  in  this  country  of  better  knowledge  of 
the  world's  events. 

I.  War  aims. — Sagacious  men  saw  even  before  we 
entered  the  conflict  the  great  need  of  setting  before 
the  minds  of  the  public,  and  especially  the  soldier, 
just  what  we  were  fighting  for.  President  Wilson  has 
done  perhaps  his  best  service  in  suggesting  thesegoals. 
The  philosophers  of  idealism,  like  Hocking,  criticize 
the  attitude  of  e.  g.,  Eltinge,  who  would  rely  more  on 
unconscious,  instinctive  crowd  impulses  to  give  men 
the  fighting  edge.  As  a  result  of  all  this  effort  the 
mind  of  the  intelligent  soldier  has  come  to  realize 
more  and  more  that  we  were  the  leader  of  the  world's 
democracy,  that  we  were  fighting  a  war  of  liberation 
against  autocracy  and  militarism;  arid  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  efficiency  of  our  soldiers  was  greatly 
increased  by  this  general  belief. 

But  specific,  conscious  aims  belong  rather  to  the 
preliminary  or  to  the  subsequent  reflective  stages  of 
warfare,  and  on  the  ragged  edge  of  battle  it  is  the 
momentum  given  by  ideas  which,  while  a  very  import- 
ant factor,  is  of  less  consequence  than  impulses  that 

116 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

spring  from  the  instincts  of  self-preservation,  pug- 
nacity, gregariousness,  our  preliminary  beliefs,  the 
general  set  of  the  will,  fear,  anger,  etc.  Even  the  con- 
scientious objector  in  the  charge  has  to  fight,  and  very 
few  can  stand  out  long  against  the  all-compelling 
sentiment  of  the  crowd. 

It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  us  that  we  did  not 
plunge  into  the  war  more  precipitately  because  all 
the  time  we  were  planning  and  preparing,  public  sen- 
timent was  being  educated  and  opinion  was  being 
formed  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  this  was  the  change 
that  made  possible  our  own  wonderful  achievements 
in  the  end.  The  war  was  so  big,  we  were  so  unin- 
formed about  European  conditions,  our  press  had  to 
undergo  such  an  intensive  self-education  in  order  to 
meet  the  emergency,  that  the  problem  of  realizing 
what  we  were  up  against  was  a  tremendous  one.  This 
education,  however,  has  made  us  forever  and  in  a  new 
sense  a  member  of  the  nations  of  the  Old  World.  Our 
intellectual  and  even  our  material  interests  have  un- 
dergone an  enormous  and  unprecedented  expansion. 
We  can  never  return  to  our  old  blindness  and  provin- 
cialism. Even  if  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  imperiled 
we  are  destined  henceforth  to  be  not  only  an  integral 
but  a  leading  member  of  the  family  of  nations.  Not 
only  that,  but  Europe  looks  to  us  with  a  respect  and 
a  degree  of  newly  felt  dependence  that  no  one  could 
have  dreamed  of  even  three  years  ago. 

It  has  been  an  inspiration  at  home  and  was  a  great 
and  unpredictable  factor  in  the  European  settlement 

117 


MOKALE 

that  our  aims  were,  in  a  sense,  disinterested.  True,  we 
profited  enormously  by  European  contracts,  and  with- 
out doubt  we  would  have  supplied  Germany  no  less 
freely  had  this  been  practicable.  But  the  fact  that 
we  wanted  no  land,  no  indemnities,  gave  enormous 
sums,  and  prepared  our  huge  army  and  suffered  our 
own  snare  of  losses,  that  it  was  all  a  free  gift  to  a 
great  cause,  elevated  the  morale  of  not  only  our  army 
but  of  the  country  and  of  the  world  by  a  spectacle 
unprecedented  in  history.  It  is  this  that  gave  us  an 
opportunity  for  a  new  world  leadership  which,  if 
Congress  and  the  press  have  the  vision  to  see  and  to 
utilize  to  the  uttermost,  will  be  the  acid  test  of  their 
own  patriotic  sagacity.  The  problem  before  the  coun- 
try now  is :  Shall  we  enter  upon  this  new  leadership 
to  which  we  seem  to  be  called,  and  can  we  make  our- 
selves worthy  of  it? 

II.  Morale  and  knowledge. — The  psychology  of  evi- 
dence, started  experimentally  by  Binet  and  Stern 
and  applied  by  many  legal  writers  to  testimony, shows 
how  hard  it  is  for  the  most  honest  observers  to  state 
accurately  the  most  indifferent  facts.  Dramatic  in- 
cidents prepared  and  enacted  as  a  class-room  exer- 
cise and  described  by  onlookers  are  reproduced  by  in- 
dividuals of  the  class  with  great  differences,  even  in 
essentials,  and  where  oral  statements  are  given  and 
reported  by  a  series  of  persons,  they  come  back  to 
their  source  with  changes  directly  proportional  to  the 
number  of  minds  through  which  they  have  passed. 
When  strong  emotions  are  excited,  facts  are  still  more 

118 


distorted  and  rumors  run  very  wildly,  for  the  critical 
faculty  is  in  abeyance  and  the  mob  mind  often  shows 
a  credulity  that  is  almost  unlimited.  The  early  stages 
of  the  war  abounded  in  fantastic,  sometimes  almost 
panicky  reports  in  all  countries,  especially  during  and 
just  after  mobilization  when  the  public  on  the  street 
was  so  eager  for  information  that  if  it  was  not  forth- 
coming it  was  supplied  by  the  imagination ;  and  some- 
times suggestibility  was  so  intense  that  delusions 
were  common,  as,  for  example,  in  the  "Angels  of 
Mons,"  the  apparition  of  which  the  English  Psychic 
Research  Society  has  found  various  witnesses  who 
testified  on  oath  to  seeing.  Many  believed  that 
180,000  Russian  soldiers  were  transported  secretly 
by  sea  from  Vladivostok  to  England  and  thence  to 
France.  The  Germans  believed  so  intensely  that  a 
yellow  automobile  was  going  through  their  country 
from  France  to  Russia  loaded  with  money  that  such 
vehicles  were  stopped,  and  in  a  few  cases  their  drivers 
were  shot.  Every  stranger  was  liable  to  be  suspected 
and  even  arrested  as  a  spy,  and  in  all  the  European 
countries  warnings  were  issued  against  talking  of 
the  war  in  public.  A  long  list  of  often  preposterous 
tales  won  wide  credence.  In  times  of  great  excite- 
ment all  are  prone  to  believe  what  they  wish,  and 
overdrawn  feelings  tend  very  strongly  to  create  if 
they  cannot  find  facts  to  justify  them. 

As  to  press  censorship,  it  passed  through  three 
rather  distinct  stages.  Hundreds  of  correspondents 
with  little  preliminary  knowledge  of  European  al- 

119 


MORALE 

fairs  and  sometimes  of  continental  languages  were 
rushed  to  the  scene  of  war,  and,  affronted  that  mili- 
tary authorities  weighed  out  all  scraps  of  information 
to  them  as  carefully  as  if  they  were  diamonds,  and  as 
the  American  reporters  especially  were  pressed  by 
their  home  newspapers  for  "snappy  stuff,"  they  not 
only  sought  in  every  way  to  get  by  the  censor  but 
some  became  free-lances,  and  a  few  yielded  more  or 
less  to  the  temptations  of  fakerism.  Some  American 
papers  exposed  themselves  all  too  justly  to  the 
charges  of  mendacity  (See  F.  Koester's  The  Lies  of 
the  Allies),  and  we  had  such  headlines  as  "Eleven 
German  Warships  Sunk,"  "Kaiser  Loses  Two-Thirds 
of  His  Army  in  Poland;  His  Sons  Escape  in  Air- 
plane," "Von  Kluck's  Army  Is  Taken."  This  was  the 
first  stage  of  reporting,  which  ended  about  the  time 
of  the  fall  of  Antwerp.  Then  almost  with  one  accord 
the  warring  nations  shut  down  on  reporters  and  gave 
the  public  only  their  own  very  brief  official  reports, 
which  the  great  news  bureaus  used  as  best  they  could. 
This  W.  G.  Shepherd  calls  the  period  of  the  dark  ages. 
In  the  third  stage  the  reporter  was  allowed  to  live  in 
a  certain  area  and  was  given,  perhaps  each  day,  his 
daily  bread  of  news  at  headquarters,  and  was  also 
allowed  to  travel  and  see  for  himself  within  certain 
limits.  But  everything  he  sent  had  to  be  submitted 
to  the  official  censor;  if  he  attempted  to  evade  this 
ruling  he  might  be  punished  by  dismissal.  Thus  mili- 
tary interests  dominated  his  work  and  almost  any- 
thing could  be  suppressed.  The  reporter  was  no  longer 
marooned  but  was  silenced  if  be  transgressed.  By 

120 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

this  method  the  British  kept  the  first  battle  of  Ypres 
a  secret  from  the  world  for  several  months.  The 
Times  could  not  print  for  months  the  account  of  the 
first  Zeppelin  raid,  although  its  own  building  was 
damaged.  Thus  the  reporter  in  the  later  stages  of  the 
war  was  no  longer  a  prisoner  but  was  in  close  touch 
with  the  War  Office,  could  make  almost  daily  trips 
officially  prepared  for  him,  often  even  up  to  the  firing 
line,  and  so  according  to  his  own  initiative  could  know 
and  tell  much  about  the  front.  But  everything  he  sent 
had  to  be  censored  first.  The  best  of  these  reporters 
have  educated  themselves  and  the  public  very  rapidly 
and  well,  and  our  leading  dailies  have  grown  in  these 
four  years  vastly  less  provincial  and  more  cosmopoli- 
tan, although  there  has  yet  been  no  concerted  move- 
ment to  gather  news  systematically  by  placing  quali- 
fied correspondents  in  all  the  great  centers  of  the 
world  to  give  readers  at  home  a  preliminary  sketch 
of  history,  which  is  everywhere  now  being  made  so 
rapidly.  Thus  the  cultivated  American  might  yet  fer- 
vently use  many  of  the  phrases  in  Ajax's  famous 
prayer  for  more  light. 

In  Germany  the  military  censorship  of  the  press, 
which  is  always  rigorous,  became  vastly  more  so  at 
the  outset  of  the  war,  and  as  early  as  July  31,  1914, 
a  long  list  of  forbidden  subjects  was  published.  Every 
few  days  military  orders  were  given  as  to  what  could 
and  could  not  be  printed,  and  many  papers  were  sup- 
pressed for  various  lengths  of  time,  without  a  hear- 
ing, and  the  editor  perhaps  imprisoned  or  forced  into 

121 


MOEALE 

the  auxiliary  service.  Every  governmental  bureau 
had  absolute  authority  concerning  the  publicity  of  its 
doings.  The  future  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  labor  troubles, 
hard  living  conditions,  and  war  aims  could  not  be 
discussed  by  order  of  the  "high  command."  Despite  the 
constitution  Reichstag  speeches  were  mutilated,  and 
some  deputies  had  to  submit  their  speeches  to  the  cen- 
sor in  advance,  without  mentioning  that  they  had 
done  so.  Separate  peace  with  Eussia  was  also  under 
the  ban.  In  addition  to  suppression  and  gagging 
there  was  much  "inspired"  material,  which  was  stand- 
ardized and  which  the  papers  had  to  print.  The  Ger- 
man journals  were  allowed  to  use  only  one  version, 
e.  g.,  of  the  Jutland  "victory,"  the  Zeppelin  raids,  and 
Belgian  deportations.  News  was  also  doctored;  in 
President  Wilson's  address  of  April  2,  1917,  half  the 
text,  including  "the  world  must  be  made  safe  for  De- 
mocracy" was  deleted  by  Wolff,  and  also  the  passages 
declining  compensation  and  expressing  friendliness 
for  the  German  people.  J.  G.  Randall  has  compiled 
many  incidents  of  downright  fabrication.  The  same 
items  were  served  up  differently  for  Belgium  and 
Russia,  and  everything  that  happened  or  was  said  in 
all  countries  favorable  to  Germany  was  featured. 
Thus  the  German  press  in  general  has  become  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  even  more  "reptilian"  than 
Bismarck  called  it.  All  this  is  especially  done  in  the 
interests  of  morale.  The  War  Office  decides  what  the 
soldier  and  the  public  shall  know  and  not  know,  for 
news  is  /\  war  asset  that  ranks  next  to  munitions, 

122 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

Another  aspect  of  this  subject  is  found  in  the  sys- 
tem of  espionage  and  methods  of  getting  intelligence 
as  to  the  doings  and  intentions  of  the  enemy  in  order 
to  avoid  surprise.  On  the  one  hand  every  purpose 
and  movement  is  disguised  in  every  way,  and  strategy 
consists  largely  in  misleading  the  enemy ;  while  on  his 
side  he  must  develop  and  use  every  possible  agency 
to  learn  beforehand  just  what  to  expect,  for  only 
thus  can  the  supreme  disaster  to  morale  in  actual 
fighting,  viz.,  surprise,  be  avoided.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
successful  spy  is  a  hero  on  his  own  side  but  worthy  of 
every  indignity,  torture,  and  perhaps  death  if  he  falls 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Andre,  whom  Washing- 
ton hanged  in  1780,  now  reposes  in  Westminster  Ab- 
bey. Captain  Lody,  after  remarka'ble  exploits,  when 
tried  by  court-martial  in  Camera,  revealed  all  his  in- 
structions but  not  names,  was  loyal  to  the  end,  and 
said  before  he  was  shot  that  his  trial  was  a  model  of 
fairness.  .Very  few  in  this  country  and  even  in  Eu- 
rope before  Paul  Lanoir's  book  (and  Dr.  Burch's 
Notebook,  The  Active  Service  Police  in  the  War  of 
1866-70,  Walheim's  Indiscretions,  Zernicki's  Recol- 
lections, and  the  famous  Mesmard  pamphlet  of  1901) 
realized  what  this  system  meant  in  Germany.  Even 
in  1810  there  were  30,000  German  spies  of  both  sexes 
in  France.  Frederick  the  Great  said,  "I  have  one 
cook  and  a  hundred  spies."  Spies  in  Germany  are  re- 
spected. They  are  of  all  grades  and  found  in  all  pro- 
fessions. Men  are  entrapped  by  the  Krausse  houses, 
and  Stieber  (1818-1892),  the  originator  of  the  present 

123 


(system,  was  a  genius  of  originality  and  trickery. 
Everyone  was  watched,  even  spies  themselves,  and  of 
course  every  court  in  Europe.  Stieber  was  a  friend 
of  the  king  and  of  Bismarck,  who  called  him  "the 
great  reptile."  His  agents  secured  the  personal  safety 
of  the  Czar  at  German  spas,  and  allowed  an  assassin, 
whose  plans  they  knew  beforehand,  to  shoot  at  Alex- 
ander III  in  Paris;  they  then  arrested  him,  as  this 
procedure  suited  Bismarck's  purpose.  In  1866  Bis- 
marck approved  the  plan  of  invading  France  in  ad- 
vance of  the  German  army  by  introducing  4,000  agri- 
culturists and  8,000  domestics,  so  that  the  road  by 
which  Moltke's  army  marched  into  France  was  strewn 
beforehand  with  spies,  some  30,000  in  all.  Stieber 
studied  each  commander,  the  opinion  of  each  district, 
provided  in  advance  for  the  lodgment  of  the  German 
army,  working  with  children,  the  sick,  and  the  poor, 
as  well  as  with  the  press.  He  insisted  that  the  Ger- 
man invaders  were  led  by  his  army.  During  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  the  expense  of  this  secret  po- 
plice  system  was  783,000  pounds,  a  part  of  which  was 
paid  to  strike  leaders  in  France.  Engineers,  too,  were 
spies  and  at  a  signal  disorganized  traffic.  They 
preyed  upon  every  expression  of  industrial  unrest 
and  made  common  cause  with  anarchists.  Whenever 
there  was  a  rumor  of  friction  between  France  and 
Germany  they  fomented  strikes,  paid  money  for  elec- 
tions, worked  with  all  kinds  of  parasites  and  wastrels 
and  all  who  were  "down  and  out,"  and  provided 
sources  of  income  for  those  in  debt.  Many  were 

124 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

drummers,  and  some  wore  the  ribbon  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  Jules  Favre  in  1870  engaged  Stieber  himself 
in  disguise  as  a  servant.  These  spies  are  sycophants, 
money-lenders,  they  are  found  in  every  drawing-poom, 
and  have  a  system  of  letters  innocent  on  their  surface 
but  every  phrase  of  which  has  its  key  for  interpreta- 
tion. Stieber  claimed  that  the  conquest  of  France  in 
1870  was  due  more  to  his  pioneer  work  than  to  Molt- 
ke's  army.  Germany  now  spends  more  than  a  million 
pounds  a  year  for  this  secret  service.  The  system  has 
lately  spent  most  of  its  energy  in  Russia  with  results 
which  the  world  knows. 

The  remedies  are,  first,  a  growth  of  public  opinion 
based  on  realization  of  the  danger,  and  a  revision  of 
laws.  The  allied  nations  have  contented  themselves 
for  the  most  part  with  detecting  and  punishing  spies, 
and  have  not  generally  approved  the  development  of 
a  counter  system  of  espionage.  None,  so  far  as  known, 
has  organized  a  scheme  in  Germany  like  that  which 
the  Germans  have  developed  in  other  countries,  for  it 
would  not  be  thought  honorable  by  public  opinion  and 
would  conflict  with  our  national  ideals  of  morale.  It 
is  due  to  this  system  in  Germany  and  its  almost  total 
absence  in  England  that  the  latter  was  so  taken  by 
surprise  and  was  at  a  disadvantage  at  the  outset  of 
the  war,  so  that  the  lives  of  many  thousands  of  her 
best  young  men  were  lost.  On  the  whole  we  cannot 
escape  the  inquiry  whether  as  we  had  to  meet  gas  by 
gas,  submarines  by  submarines,  wre  should  not  also 
have  henceforth  secret  agents  in  Germany  to  keep  our 

125 


MORALE 

authorities  informed,  far  more  intimately  than  our 
press  is  able  to  do,  of  what  is  actually  taking  place 
there.  If  this  wounds  our  national  honor  we  could 
console  ourselves  with  the  fact  that  our  active  espion- 
age would  be  entirely  in  the  interests  of  preparedness 
and  defense  and  not  with  a  view  to  offensive  action. 

The  mails  have  been  a  very  effective  war  weapon, 
and  to  examine  them  is  to  discover  and  frustrate  the 
enemy's  plans,  restrict  their  supplies,  and  impair  their 
capacity.  Some  letters  favor  acts  of  violence,  such 
as  incendiarism  and  sabotage;  others  deal  with  the 
supply  of  vital  material;  while  a  third  class  is  con- 
nected with  propaganda.  It  is  as  necessary  to  check 
espionage  as  to  forestall  seditious  literature.  In  Eng- 
land thirty  to  fifty  thousand  telegrams  and  some  four 
hundred  cablegrams  passed  the  censor  every  twenty- 
four  hours.  Many  of  these  were  in  code  and  a  vast 
body  of  useful  information  was  gathered  by  these 
"eyes  of  the  blockade"  and  also,  what  is  no  less  im- 
portant, withheld  from  the  enemy.  In  London  the 
censoring  force  numbered  3,100.  It  was  a  new  insti- 
tution and  so  Liverpool  founded  a  training  school  for 
these  experts  under  Colonel  Tody,  which  handled 
nearly  400,000  items  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  pos- 
tal censorship  service  cost  England  f  3,350,000  a  year. 

Another  great  department  is  to  shape  and  influence 
public  opinion  by  means  of  propaganda.  This,  like 
espionage,  is  very  elaborately  and  very  expensively 
organized  departmentally  in  Germany,  which  has 
spent  millions  monthly  in  Russia  and  the  story  of 

126 


which  in  other  allied  countries  has  been  so  success- 
fully unearthed  and  checked.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  describe  in  detail  its  methods,  which  are  of  pro- 
found interest  to  psychology.1  Every  device  has  been 
resorted  to.  New  books  have  been  bound  in  old  cov- 
ers and  under  misleading  titles,  leaflets  and  even 
forms  have  been  inserted  in  purely  scientific  books 
and  journals,  so  that  the  importation  of  all  these  into 
this  country  was  for  more  than  two  years,  we  think 
unwisely,  held  up  from  our  universities  and  libraries 
by  England.  Seditious  articles  have  been  printed  in 
some  of  the  papers  and  in  many  of  the  journals  in 
this  country  which  appear  in  a  foreign  language.  In 
the  vast  censorship  museum  of  Great  Britain  are  thou- 
sands of  objects  illustrating  these  arts  of  "getting 
by."  Special  systematic  attempts  were  made  to  stir 
up  the  natives  of  Java,  Sumatra,  and  Singapore. 

In  the  official  Bulletin  of  February  4,  1918,  we  find 
the  scope  and  activities  of  Mr.  Creel's  Committee  on 
Public  Information,  which  went  to  our  3,000  papers. 
These,  with  no  compulsory  censorship,  have  so  mar- 
velously  responded  to  a  gentleman's  agreement  to 
print  nothing  of  advantage  to  the  enemy,  such  as 

1  See,  for  exarnnle :  ITorst  Von  der  Goltz :  My  Adventures  as  a 
German  Secret  Agent,  288,  N.  Y.,  McBride,  Nast,  1917.  A.  K.  Graves : 
The  Secrets  of  the  German  War  Office,  286  N.  Y.,  McBride,  Nast, 

1914.  Leon  Daudet:  L'Avant  Guerre,  312,  Paris,   Nouv.  Lib.   Nat., 

1915.  Louis  Rouquette:  La  Propaganda  Germanique  auoe  Etats-Unis, 
154,  Paris,   Chapelot,   1916.     Hamil  Grant:   Spies  and  Secret  Service, 
320,   London,  Richards,  1915.    Theodore  Roosevelt:  The  Foes  of  Our 
Own  Household,  347,  N.  Y.,  Doran,  1917.    William  H.  Skaggs:  Ger- 
man  Conspiracies   in   America,   from   an   American   Point   of   View, 
Lond.,  Unwin,  1915.     Roger  B.  Wood :  The  German  Spy  in  America, 
256,   Lond.,   1917,   with   an  introductory  note  by  ex-President   Roose- 
velt. The  German  Spy  System  in  France,  Tr.  from  the  French  of  Paul 
Lanoir,  1910. 

127 


MORALE 

troop  movements,  defenses,  and  embarkations,  that 
we  have  had  almost  no  official  press  censorship.  Our 
bureau  has  sought  chiefly  to  influence  public  opinion 
at  home,  among  our  allies,  and  also  with  the  enemy. 
It  has  used  many  million  dollars'  worth  of  free  space 
for  advertising,  prepared  and  used  movies,  has  had 
an  airplane  service  to  distribute  circulars  behind  the 
lines,  and  for  all  these  activities  has  only  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  paid  employees,  for  there  are  five  thou- 
sand volunteers  and  several  times  that  number  of 
public  speakers.  It  has  issued  a  few  pamphlets  of 
very  diverse  quality,  and  in  addition  to  its  Division 
of  Syndicate  Features  has  one  of  Foreign  Language 
Newspapers  and  also  Photographs. 

From  these  very  bare  and  large  outlines  we  can  see 
that  in  War  times  the  control  of  news  is  a  factor  of  in- 
estimable significance  for  morale.  In  the  trench  and 
at  home  the  soldier,  especially  the  AJmerican  soldier, 
as  well  as  the  citizen,  craves  to  know  just  what  is  go- 
ing on,  and  if  he  is  left  in  ignorance,  tension  and  fear 
are  harder  on  him  than  envisagement  of  even  bad 
news.  If  he  believes  that  he  has  been  really  told  the 
worst  and  that  nothing  has  been  kept  back  he  is  satis- 
fied ;  he  can  pardon  many  things  easier  than  conceal- 
ment of  fact  he  feels  he  has  a  right  to  and  ought  to 
know,  and  if  he  is  surprised  by  something  utterly  un- 
foreseen he  is  liable  to  lose  his  balance.  He  has  amaz- 
ing power  to  adjust  and  react  efficiently  in  any  situ- 
ation that  he  can  clearly  see,  however  desperate  it 
may  be.  Just  as  the  democratic  world  is  now  de- 

128 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

manding  the  abolition  of  all  secret  treaties,  so  the 
soldier  demands  to  be  taken  into  the  confidence  of  his 
officers  and  to  glimpse  the  larger  strategy  in  which 
his  unit  is  called  on  to  play:  its  part.  Psychology  can 
realize  even  more  fully  than  democracy  is  yet  able  to 
do  not  only  the  negative  side  of  the  dangers  of  reser- 
vation and  concealment  but  the  great  positive  ac- 
cession of  energy  that  comes  where  the  sol- 
dier feels  that  he  participates  in  knowledge 
not  only  of  the  facts  but  of  the  purposes  of 
the  high  command.  To  be  told  beforehand  that 
there  is  grave  danger  in  an  enterprise,  and  to  be 
shown  something  of  its  reasons  and  relations  to  the 
success  of  a  plan  goes  a  great  way  toward  giving  him 
the  nerve  to  carry  it  out;  while  a  sense  of  ignorance 
is  felt  to  be  a  kind  of  mental  asphyxiation.  Thus 
officers  are  revising  old  ideas  and  recognizing  noetic 
needs  and  realizing  their  value.  There  are  already 
those  who  believe  that  more  even  if  informal  talks 
should  be  given  on  all  suitable  occasions,  and  that  by 
circularization  troops  should  be  put  in  the  possession 
of  as  many  bald  facts  as  possible,  leaving  them  to 
draw  their  own  inference  and  form  their  own  opinions 
concerning  everything  that  the  intense  curiosity  of  the 
trenches  seeks  to  find  out.  The  public  and  the  peo- 
ples of  the  world,  as  our  President  is  now  telling  us, 
must  be  taken  more  into  the  confidence  of  govern- 
ments. Legitimate  criticism  must  not  be  repressed 
but  welcomed.  No  doubt  reticence,  as  Lequeux  says, 
has  often  saved  from  disaster  almost  equal  to  that  of 

129 


MORALE 

the  black  week  in  the  South  African  war.  One  of  the 
greatest  calamities  in  the  War  of  1870  was  caused  by; 
a  French  journal  which  said  MacMahon  had  changed 
the  direction  of  his  army.  Through  England  this 
reached  Moltke,  who  altered  all  his  plans  and  cap- 
tured MacMahon  and  his  army  at  Metz.  This  was  an 
awful  price  for  the  indiscretion  of  a  newspaper.  But 
the  public  must  not  be  spoon-fed,  for  either  optimism 
or  pessimism  if  kept  blind  is  dangerous.  The  full 
story  of  the  first  battle  of  Ypres,  which  was  so  long 
withheld  and  distorted,  would  probably  have  done 
a  great  deal  in  England  for  recruiting,  for  great  dis- 
asters as  well  as  great  victories  rouse  the  British  to 
greater  efforts.  Spying  in  war  is  not  like  stealing 
trade  secrets  or  inventions  or  any  other  kind  of  in- 
dustrial espionage.  Perhaps,  as  some  claim,  the 
means  of  acquiring  secret  knowledge  has  progressed 
faster  than  the  arts  of  concealing  it,  and  if  so  this  is 
suggestive  for  those  who  wish  to  prophesy.  On  the 
whole,  we  must  conclude  that  although  this  subject 
fairly  bristles  with  anomalies,  in  the  new  era  we  shall 
have  a  rather  radical  revision  of  our  conceptions  here 
in  favor  of  more  openness  and  less  concealment,  both 
to  the  soldier  in  the  ranks  and  to  the  public. 

Another  thing  is  sun-clear  to  us  now  that  we  have 
entered  and  been  fully  adopted  into  the  great  family 
of  nations,  and  that  is  that  we  have  a  crying  need 
and  a  right  to  far  more  knowledge  than  we  possess  in 
any  agencies  now  supplied  of  what  is  going  on  in  the 
world.  Our  press  and  the  great  bureaus  are  far  from 
*  130 


WAR  AIMS  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

being  satisfactory.  Even  our  government  to-day  lacks 
sources  of  inner  information  in  regard  to  significant 
events  now  transpiring  at  the  heart  of  Bolshevism. 
We  get  only  glimpses  of  trends  of  opinion,  sentiment, 
or  events  in  Oriental  countries,  and  since  the  armis- 
tice, we  really  know  very  little  indeed  of  what  is  go- 
ing on  in  Germany;  while  we  get  only  an  occasional 
ray  of  light  from  Turkey,  the  Balkans,  and  even  from 
South  America  and  Mexico,  in  all  of  which  countries 
Germany  has  long  developed  most  effective  means  of 
getting  inside  facts.  Thus  even  our  leaders,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  mass  of  intelligent  readers,  are  novices 
in  world  politics,  and  we  should  undertake  now  a  far 
more  effective  organization  than  we  have  yet  dreamed 
of  to  keep  our  government  completely  informed  of 
both  the  march  of  events  and  the  changes  of  senti- 
ment in  all  great  countries  of  the  world,  and  thus 
overcome  the  provincialism  which  has  seemed  to  some 
our  pride  but  which  is  particularly  now  our  shame. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONSCIENTIOUS    OBJECTORS    AND    DIVERSITIES    OF 
PATRIOTIC    IDEALS 

I.  The  treatment  of  objectors  in  lands  where  they  are  recognized — 
Fake  objectors :  The  proper  test  and  treatment — II.  Factors  of 
patriotism — Contrast  in  the  goals  of  military  training  between 
France  and  Germany,  viz.,  organization  versus  esprit — The 
French  psychology  of  the  attack. 

I.  Morale  and  conscientious  objectors. — The  fact 
that  in  the  present  war  Great  Britain  took  action 
against  barely  one  thousand  genuine  cases,  and  that 
such  were  numbered  only  by  hundreds  in  this  country 
is  suggestive,  for  we  are  told  that  the  paucity  of  num- 
bers is  an  index  of  the  clarity  of  conviction  regard- 
ing the  righteousness  of  the  cause.  While  conscienti- 
ous objectors  generally  meet  with  scant  sympathy  in 
army  or  camp,  where  they  are  often  hazed,  bullied, 
and  outlawed  by  sentiment  and  in  a  few  cases,  we  are 
told,  have  actually  been  killed,  there  are  many,  on 
the  other  hand,  who  have  the  adroitness  and  tact  to  be 
efficient  as  peace  propagandists  that  make  them  very 
insidious  enemies  of  army  morale.  The  genuine  ob- 
jectors were  exempted  from  active  fighting  early  in 
the  war  by  England,  and  religious  objectors  were 
placed  in  the  noncombatant  army  service  of  this 
country  by  the  President's  order  of  March  20,  1918. 
The  conscientious  objector  is  unknown  or  not  heard 
of  or  at  least  has  no  voice,  on  the  continent,  and  is 

132 


also  of  course  unknown  save  under  conscription. 
There  are  at  least  nine  religious  bodies  in  this  coun- 
try, of  which  the  Quakers  are  best  known  (they 
have  modified  their  attitude  since  the  war  began) 
whose  creed  makes  them  oppose  war  under  all  con- 
ditions. Tolstoi's  example  and  influence  in  this  di- 
rection, we  are  often  told,  had  much  to  do  with  the 
debacle  in  Russia,  and  the  objector  conceives  himself 
as  in  line  with  the  ancient  Christians,  many  of  whom 
were  ready  to  become  martyrs  rather  than  join  the 
Roman  legions.  On  the  one  hand  the  very  theory  of 
democracy  favors  the  recognition  of  the  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment,  and  respect  of  conscience  is  some- 
thing too  sacred  to  be  interfered  with,  although  con- 
scription began  with  the  French  Revolution  and 
through  history  has  oftenest  been  practiced  by  re- 
publics, autocracies  preferring  standing  armies. 
Here,  and  far  more  in  England,  there  has  been  much 
written  on  the  subject,1  and  many  recusants  who  have 
been  imprisoned  have  written  up  their  experiences 
in  a  pathetic  way;  while  there  has  been  a  deluge  of 
magazine  articles  on  the  subject,  some  by  high  ju- 
dicial and  other  authorities  (like  Prof.  A.  V.  Dicey, 
Gilbert  Murray,  and  W.  R.  Stather  Hunt)1.  Many 
hold  that  nothing  will  justify  the  state  in  compelling 
a  man  to  do  what  his  deepest  convictions  forbid. 

On  the  other  hand,  thuggism  and  the  suttee  were 
inspired  by  religion,  while  at  the  other  extreme  to- 

1  Mrs.  H.  Hobhouse :  I  Appeal  Unto  Ccesar,  and  G.  G.  Cpulton : 
The  Case  for  Compulsory  Military  Service  (London,  1917)  give  the 
most  convenient  surveys. 

133 


day  in  several  lists  of  conscientious  objectors  agnos- 
tics lead,  and  there  are  almost  no  two  socialist  ob- 
jectors who  agree  as  to  the  grounds  of  their  opposi- 
tion. Socrates  is  well  cited  as  a  citizen  who  felt  it 
his  duty  to  die  for  the  state  if  it  so  decreed.  The  law 
makes  short  shift  with  extreme  Christian  Scientists 
who  refuse  to  employ  doctors  for  dangerous  diseases 
or  with  those  who  object  on  conscientious  grounds  to 
paying  their  taxes  or  to  sending  their  children  to 
school.  The  judgments  of  conscience  are  often  er- 
ratic, and  many  crimec  have  been  committed  in  its 
name.  A  French  writer  in  a  very  sensational  book 
justifies  the  fanatical  regicide  Eavaillac2  because  in 
slaying  Henry  IV  he  was  actuated  by  what  seemed 
to  him  religious  motives. 

The  most  difficult  matter,  of  course,  is  to  deter- 
mine in  each  case  from  the  previous  life  and  char- 
acter of  the  objector  whether  his  scruples  are  sincere. 
For  every  genuine  case  there  are  probably  a  dozen 
slackers,  cowards,  shirkers,  and  malingerers,  and  the 
convictions  of  those  who  have  any  are  often  super- 
ficial and  extemporized.  The  examiners  who  test 
these  cases  sometimes  have  a  hard  task,  though  gener- 
ally experience  enables  them  to  decide  quickly  and 
truly.  Many  take  cover  under  religious  creeds  with 
which  they  are  shown  to  have  only  the  very  slightest 
acquaintance,  or  claim  Biblical  grounds  for  their  re- 
monstrance when  they  know  almost  nothing  of  the 
Scriptures.  Some  are  anarchists  and  against  all  gov- 

'  See  Albert  Schinz :  The  Renewal  of  French  Thought  on  the 
Eve  of  the  War,  308,  Amer.  Jour.  Psychol.  28,  (1916). 

134 


CONSCIENTIOUS  OBJECTORS 

ernments,  others  are  neurotics,  but  it  is  important 
for  the  morale  of  an  army  that  all  these  pretenders, 
as  well  as  the  genuine  cases,  be  at  least  unmasked. 

One  very  simple  acid  test  has  been  suggested  for 
those  who  object  to  war  as  inhuman.  They  are  asked 
whether  they  are  willing  to  alleviate  suffering  and 
danger  by  working  on  mine-sweepers  or  as  stretcher- 
bearers.  Those  who  refuse  these  most  dangerous 
functions  can  hardly  escape  the  brand  of  cowardice 
as  at  least  a  factor  in  their  vaunted  humanitarian- 
ism.  Some  declare  themselves  ready  to  assuage  the 
suffering  of  the  severely  or  mortally  wounded  but  not 
that  of  those  who  are  less  injured,  because  by  their 
aid  the  latter  may  be  enabled  to  become  fighters 
again.  A  motley  crew  of  these  slackers  have  become 
refugees  from  all  countries  in  a  New  York  club,  From 
The  Four  Winds,  mainly  fugitives  from  the  English 
Defense  of  the  Realm  Act.  To  refuse  all  service  in 
the  medical  or  quartermaster  corps,  in  engineering 
or  railroad  service  because  of  these  objections,  and 
to  take  twenty-eight  days  of  solitary  confinement  and 
the  added  two  months  of  prohibition  to  write  or  re- 
ceive letters  or  visits,  and  to  bear  the  contumely  of 
the  community  rather  than  serve  in  a  good  cause 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  objector  has  too 
much  will  for  his  intellect  and  lacks  something  of 
the  gregarious  or  social  instinct  that  makes  a  de- 
sirable citizen.  One  writer  estimates  twenty-five 
thousand  real  or  pretended  conscientious  objectors 
all-told  in  this  country. 

135 


MOKALE 

To  most  the  conscientious  objector  is  simply  a  nui- 
sance. He  thinks  himself  a  sufferer  for  conscience 
sake  and  so  entitled  to  pity  and  respect.  These  kick- 
ers have  brought  the  very  name  conscience  into  dis- 
repute, and  many  think  the  preferential  treatment 
accorded  them  is  unpolitic.  One  suggests  they  should 
be  made  to  read  and  answer  the  dialogue  between 
Socrates  and  the  Laws.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
days  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  in  very  many 
other  cases  those  who  have  chosen  to  obey  their  con- 
science by  breaking  the  law  of  the  land  have  been 
right.  For  fifteen  months  the  objector  could  emi- 
grate from  England,  and  it  was  held  that  his  refusal 
to  do  so  implied  acquiescence,  because  if  his  objection 
was  not  strong  enough  to  induce  him  to  make  this 
sacrifice,  discriminatory  favors  were  not  justified.  In 
England  it  was  found  that  there  was  very  much 
money  of  suspicious  origin  in  fomenting  schools  of 
objectors  and  persuading  those  who  wanted  exemp- 
tion on  other  grounds  that  they  might  use  this.  Some 
interesting  analyses  have  been  given  of  a  moral  state 
in  these  soi-disant  objectors  which  is  clearly  morbid. 
•Some  of  them  are  psychically  masochists  and  love  to 
suffer,  and  sometimes  have  sex  abnormalities.  Others 
are  unstable  and  catch  any  fanaticism  that  is  in  the 
air,  losing  their  sense  of  proportion  and  even  their 
mental  balance. 

Thus  the  objectors  are  a  motley  crew.  While  the 
conduct  of  a  few  may  suggest  moral  sublimity  and 
heroism,  the  majority  are  imperfectly  socialized  and 

136 


CONSCIENTIOUS  OBJECTORS 

hyperindividualized,  and  because  soldiering  requires 
the  subordination  of  each  to  the  will  of  one  command, 
the  presence  of  these  in  any  army  is  always  danger- 
ous. They  should  be  excluded  from  the  army  not  so 
much  out  of  respect  to  their  idiosyncrasies  or  even 
their  convictions  as  because  they  may  become  the  most 
insidious  of  all  the  foes  of  morale.  They  illustrate 
the  fallibility  of  conscience,  and  like  the  fanatical 
sects  have  done  much  to  discredit  this  oracle,8  in  the 
name  of  which  so  many  hideous  crimes  have  been 
committed.  Can  anyone  doubt  that  if  the  conscien- 
tious objectors  were  in  the  seats  of  power  they  would 
be  less  tolerant  of  opposing  views  than  was  the  In- 
quisition or  the  coadjutors  of  Robespierre? 

II.  Differential  morale. — Differential  psychology 
takes  account  of  individual  variations.  No  two  peo- 
ple are  exactly  alike  in  body,  and  they  are  still  more 
unlike  in  mind  and  character.  The  same  is  true  of 
nations.  Even  patriotism  is  a  very  different  thing 
in  different  lands.  It  generally  contains  at  least  the 
following  ingredients:  (1)  Love  of  landscape,  soil, 
and  the  physical  environment,  which  plays  such  a 
role  in  ethnography;  (2)  race,  especially  its  more 
generic  differentiations,  white,  black,  red,  yellow;  (3)| 
language,  including  much  that  is  common  in  culture 
material  and  in  modes  and  expressions  of  thought 
and  feeling;  (4)  mores  or  the  general  body  of  na- 
tional customs  and  habits,  including  food,  drink,  and 
attire;  (5)  a  common  history  and  tradition  as,  for 

*See  Chapter  I. 

137 


MORALE 

example,  Renan  called  the  ancient  Jews  the  People 
of  the  Book;  (6)  political  institutions  like  the  state 
or  governmental  institutions,  with  something  often 
thought  to  be  more  or  less  divine  about  them,— 
whether  it  be  a  direct  supernatural  force,  as  in  a 
theocracy,  or  in  the  divinity  that  hedges  kings,  an 
embodiment  of  absolute  reason  as  with  Hegel,  or  in 
the  vox  populi  of  democracies;  and  (7)  economic  in- 
terests, such  as  in  China,  are  now  being  made  the  new 
basis  of  unity,  or  as  the  German  confederation  of 
Bismarck  started  with  the  tariff  union.  There  are 
many  more  factors,  of  which  these  are  the  chief. 

Now  all  of  these  influences  are  cohesive  except  the 
last,  which  are  more  or  less  dispersive,  and  it  is  on 
these  latter  that  all  internationalism  from  Marx  to 
Bolshevism  is  mainly  based.  Most  economists  tend 
to  internationalism  and,  in  so  far  as  they  do,  are  un- 
patriotic. True,  commercial  relations  bind  nations 
together,  but  at  the  expense  of  their  integrity,  as  well 
as  separating  them  as  competitors.  Business  as  such, 
knows  little  of  patriotism  but  has  long  made  it  its 
pretext,  striving  to  use  the  flag  to  make  trade  follow 
it  while,  at  the  same  time,  erecting  tariff  walls,  issu- 
ing embargoes  and  checks  on  immigration  or  freedom 
of  movements  of  men  and  commodities.  The  propor- 
tion of  the  other  six  elements  and  their  innumerable 
components  differs  indefinitely  in  different  countries. 
So  much  is  this  the  case  that  there  is  not  so  very 
much  that  is  common  between  the  love  of  country 
which  an  American  feels  and  that  which  goes  by  this 

138 


CONSCIENTIOUS  OBJECTORS 

name  among  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Germans,  Jap- 
anese, etc.  Indeed,  the  patriotism  of  perhaps  no  two 
men  in  the  same  country  is  identical.  The  same  is 
true  of  morale,  both  in  peace  and  in  war. 

Such  national  and  temperamental  differences  have 
a  salient  illustration  in  the  diversities  of  stress  laid 
upon  these  characters  in  both  the  training  for  and 
the  practice  of  war,  of  which  we  see  perhaps  the  most 
convenient  contrast  between  the  Teutons  and  French 
from  Clausewitz  and  DuPicq  down  to  Bernhardi  and 
Foch.  The  Germans  study  fortifications,  maneuvers, 
movements  of  army  units  as  if  war  were  a  game  of 
chess,  and  have  developed  their  very  elaborate  Kriey- 
spielf  which  is  heralded  as  marking  a  pedagogic 
revolution  somewhat  analogous  to  the  methods  of 
case  study  in  law  schools.4  They  figure  out  the  de- 
tails of  time,  numbers,  and  munitions,  and  the  effects 
of  the  mechanical  impact  of  bodies  of  men.  Their 
strategy  is  that  of  a  game  planned  in  detail  before- 
hand. The  French  theory  and  practice  focus  on  the 
attack  and  charge,  and  it  is  to  this  that  everything 
converges  and  from  it  diverges.  The  moments  that 
precede  the  charge  in  which,  we  are  so  often  told, 
every  soldier,  whatever  his  religion  or  irreligion, 
offers  up  a  prayer  or  its  psychological  equivalent,  are 
the  center  of  all  interest.  The  core  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter for  the  German  is  thus  the  Gemiit  to  fight  in 
general,  while  for  the  Frenchman  it  is  the  esprit  of 
dashing  at  the  enemy  and  stabbing  him  down  or  com- 

4M.  W.  Meyerhardt:     The  War  Gams,  Fed.  Sem.,  Dec.  1915. 

139 


MOKALE 

pelling  him  to  flee.  Here,  too,  the  English  are  strong 
but  without  much  theory  about  it.  In  these  crucial 
moments  each  group  or  individual  must  act  for  him- 
self as  the  emergency  directs.  The  officers  can  only 
give  general  directions  and  inspire  by  personal  leader- 
ship in  front  rather  than  issuing  orders  from  the 
rear.  Details  thus  have  to  be  left  to  the  inspiration 
that  the  moment  brings  to  each.  In  these  two  ways 
of  war  all  the  heredity,  history,  and  diathesis  of  the 
Gaul  and  Teuton  respectively  are  expressed. 

Again,  Huot  and  Voivenel,5  French  writers,  tell  us 
in  a  remarkable  work  approved  by  the  War  Ministry, 
that  courage  is  the  triumph  of  the  instinct  of  social 
over  that  of  individual  preservation.  It  is  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  self  for  an  ideal.  It  is  the  acme  of  citizen- 
ship. In  moments  of  desperation  and  abandon  it 
comes  like  an  inspiration,  even  to  mediocre  men.  The 
last  vestige  of  fear  goes,  death  is  accepted  as  certain, 
and  this  sets  free  new  and  terrible  energies;  indeed 
it  is  often  just  at  this  stage  that  the  most  heroic 
deeds  are  done.  The  whole  strength  of  the  race 
nerves  the  individual,  so  gregarious  is  man,  and  be- 
fore the  inevitable  end  he  is  compelled  as  by  a  higher 
power  to  do  one  supreme  act  of  service.  But  who 
can  tell  whether  the  noble  Americans  who  died  in 
and  for  France, — Victor  Chapman,  Norman  Prince, 
Kiffin  Rockwell,  Alan  Seeger,  and  others^ — evolved 
a  clear  ideal,  which  few  really  do,  or  followed  the 
blind,  all-compelling  social  impulse.  And  who  shall 

*Le  Courage,  358,  Paris:  1917. 

140 


CONSCIENTIOUS  OBJECTORS 

say  which  is  highest  or  best.  The  Frenchman  often 
loves  his  country  as  if  she  were  a  woman,  avec  une 
pointe  de  sexualite.  Love  of  it  seizes  and  carries  him 
away  as  love  of  woman  sometimes  does  a  man.  Just 
before  the  battle  there  is  intense  tumescence;  every 
nerve  is  taut.  Then  there  is  a  great  hemorrhage  of 
sentiment,  and  afterwards  come  exhaustion  and  de- 
pression. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  SOLDIER  IDEAL  AND  ITS  CONSERVATION  IN  PEACE 

What  is  the  ideal  soldier?— Value  of  the  details  of  his  training — 
Carrying  on  the  war  in  peace — True  Democracy — Capital  versus 
Labor — America  as  the  "big  brother"  of  the  countries  she  has 
made  democratic. 

The  ideal  soldier  comes  perhaps  nearer  being  the 
ideal  man  than  does  the  ideal  workman,  'scholar, 
farmer,  savant,  or  the  ideal  man  of  any  occupation. 
The  soldierly  attitude  and  bearing  is  the  acme  of 
alertness  and  readiness  for  action  of  any  kind  on  the 
instant  with  a  maximum  of  efficiency.  Man  is  the 
erect  stander  (anthropos)  and  the  soldier's  very 
posture  suggests  the  goal  of  human  evolution,  for  he 
is  the  most  upright  of  all  men,  and  this  suggests  that 
he  is  supercharged  with  vitality.  His  uniform  must 
seem  to  fit  him  and  indicate  that  he  would  "strip" 
well.  On  parades  and  in  civil  life  his  dress  must  be 
immaculate  and  he  must  be  spick  and  span  in  every 
way  and  part  as  well  as  in  his  toilet,  while  his  every 
movement  must  speak  of  vigor.  The  true  soldier 
carries  a  certain  atmosphere  of  tonic,  out-of-door 
healthfulness  and  life  abounding  that  is  a  mental 
and  physical  tonic  to  all  he  meets  and  is  the  very 
opposite  of  weakness,  invalidism,  or  flabbiness. 
There  is  no  sign  of  apathy  or  accidie  about  either  his 
body  or  mind.  The  ideal  soldier  is  not  merely  an 

142 


erect  man  in  uniform  with  a  gun  or  sword  but  a  man 
of  sentiments  and  ideals  peculiar  to  his  calling. 
Honor,  which  is  simply  ideal  conduct  though  often 
codified  into  fantastic  form,  is  his  Muse.  This  rule 
of  life,  though  somewhat  more  pagan  than  Christian 
in  its  origin,  is  more  positive  and  more  ideal  than 
the  puritanical  rule  of  conscience  and  demands  more 
superfluity  of  virtue.  It  is  all  of  duty  with  a  large 
plus.  It  makes  a  strong  appeal  to  the  youthful 
imagination  and  is  in  fact  the  very  best  standard 
of  human  behavior  in  every  relation  of  life.  It  has 
every  predicate  of  Pauline  charity  and  then  some. 
The  true  soldier  does  not  have  the  heart  of  a  thug 
with  a  brain  steeped  in  modern  Kultur.  Let  us, 
however,  be  just  and  admit  that  the  old  German  band 
of  virtue  (Tugendbund)  in  which  young  men,  many 
of  them  lately  soldiers  in  the  Napoleonic  wars, 
united  to  cultivate  in  civil  life  the  primitive  virtues 
of  the  camp,  such  as  fraternity,  utter  honesty,  love 
of  work,  loyalty,  righteous  pugnacity,  and  mutual 
help,  to  which  they  added  chastity  and  the  peni- 
tential mood,  was  in  its  early  prime  a  potent  agent 
in  regenerating  Prussia  when  it  reached  its  pinnacle 
of  cultural  development  a  century  ago. 

The  true  soldier  surpasses  all  others  in  team  work 
and  esprit  de  corps.  This  means  that  he  has  learned 
to  execute  orders  on  the  instant  and  with  exactness, 
to  keep  in  the  closest  rapport  with  his  fellows,  and 
that  he  has  voluntarily  subordinated  himself  to  the 
group  with  utter  abnegation  and  has  made  its  aims 

143 


MORALE 

his  own.  He  can  thus  be  handled  in  larger  groups 
and  each  trusts  in  the  next  highest  command,  thus 
avoiding  friction  and  enabling  vast  bodies  of  men  to 
act  as  a  unit.  He  has  developed  a  large  bundle  of  use- 
ful habits  acquired  by  prolonged  discipline  that  are 
for  his  own  and  for  the  common  good.  Thus  the 
very  manual  of  arms  and  all  drill  are  in  themselves 
the  'best  liberal  education  for  the  body  compared 
with  modern  physical  training,  which  gives  the  full- 
est of  all-round  development  to  every  muscle  and  pre- 
scribes every  movement  possible  to  the  body  as  a 
machine  but  lacks  the  spirit  of  team  work  and  of  ob- 
jective purpose.  It  is  superior  to  this  latter  because 
drill  movements  are  the  very  best  of  all  group  acti- 
vities for  training  the  muscles  and  the  will,  of  which 
they  are  the  organ,  to  the  most  strenuous  of  all 
efforts,  viz.,  overcoming  the  enemy.  They  are  sanc- 
tioned again,  most  of  them  even  in  their  details  by 
the  experience  of  ages,  some  of  them  going  back  to 
the  primitive  hunter1  from  whom  the  warrior  de- 
veloped, and  also  by  the  consensus  of  the  competent 
since  the  history  of  war  began.  Their  benefit  ex- 
tends even  to  the  details  of  military  etiquette.  The 
salute  to  the  petty  officer  is  in  fact  an  obeisance  to 
him,  to  the  staff,  and  to  the  State.  The  salute  to  the 
flag  is  not  a  ritual  addressed  to  a  piece  of  striped 
bunting  but  to  the  country  and  the  cause  of  which 

*See  V.  Branford  &  P.  Geddes:  The  Coming  Polity,  Lond.,  Wil- 
liams &  Norgate,  1917,  showing  how  occupational  types  may  be 
made  culture  stages.  Also  A  Rustic  View  of  War  and  Peace,  124. 
anonymous,  Soc.  Rev.,  Summer  No.  1918. 

144 


THE  SOLDIER  IDEAL 

it  is  a  symbol.  The  ceremony  of  mounting  guard 
came  down  to  us  from  the  Crusades  and  was  once  an 
act  of  religious  consecration.  Presenting  arms  ex- 
pressed offering  up  of  self  and  weapon.  Bugle  calls, 
taps,  military  funerals,  and  the  rest  are  not  a  few  of 
them  made  up,  warp  and  woof,  of  symbols,  which  have 
always  been  among  the  great  culture  forces  of  the 
world.2 

Least  of  all  can  a  soldier  live  to  or  for  himself.  He 
and  all  that  he  has,  is,  and  can  do,  his  entire  thun  und 
haben  are  subordinated  as  a  means  to  an  end  that 
vastly  transcends  self.  He  must  be,  feel,  and  act  like 
a  soldier,  that  is,  for  his  companions,  the  army,  and 
his  cause.  For  this  reason  he  should  also  be  a  gentle- 
man without  fear  or  reproach  and  should  feel  himself 
particularly  called  to  elevate  and  advance  to  ever 
higher  levels  the  loftiest  ideals  of  his  sex,  a  call  which 
the  instinctive  admiration  of  women  always  and 
everywhere  makes  to  him.  While  cultivating  hardness 
to  the  enemy  he  must  and  will  naturally  compensate 
by  more  tenderness  to  friends,  the  weak,  defenseless, 
sometimes  even  to  animals,  as  we  see  in  all  kinds  of 
individual  and  group  pets  and  mascots,  including  even 
fleas,  the  interest  in  which  throws  such  a  suggestive 
sidelight  on  the  diathesis  of  the  soldier.  The  very 
drudgery  and  sordid  ness  of  camp  and  trench  life  make 
him  also  seek  compensation  in  ideals  of  home  and  of 
peace.  As  the  war  lasts  on  and  he  grows  grim  and 

3  H.  Silberer,  Problems  of  Mysticism  and  Its  Symbolism.  Tr.  by 
S,  E.  Jelliffe.  N.  Y.,  Moffat,  Yard  &  Co.,  1917. 

145 


MORALE 

fatalistic,  and  his  will  becomes  set  as  if  in  a  tonic 
cramp  to  see  it  through  regardless  of  self,  counter- 
vailing suggestions  arise  that  all  the  suffering  of 
battle  must  be  paid  for  by  a  world  enough  better  to 
make  up  for  all  he  has  gone  through,  and  the  conser- 
vation of  this  most  precious  of  sentiments  in  survivors 
later  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  but  important  tasks 
of  constructive  and  insightful  statesmanship. 

Physical  trainers  during  the  war  have  grown 
practically  unanimous  that  the  all-sided  muscle 
training  they  represent  is  a  better  school  of  body- 
culture  than  military  drill,  which  is  more  special  and 
affords  a  less  general  culture,  and  on  this  ground 
they  have  not  favored  the  claim  that  grew  strong 
during  the  war  that  drill  should  supersede  the  cult 
they  represent,  as  it  did  in  a  number  of  our  states, 
led  of  course  by  Wyoming.3  They  are  not  only  right 
from  the  standpoint  of  physiology  but  our  experience 
has  shown  that  setting-up  exercises  in  the  training 
camps  were  a  most  wholesome  aid  in  developing  and 
hardening  not  only  the  body  but  the  soul.  But  they 
tend  to  ignore  the  fact  that  military  training  in 
school  in  war  time  gives  more  push  to  all  the  deeper 
sentiments  we  dub  patriotism  than  any  systematized 
set  of  exercises,  with  only  the  end  of  general  physical 
developement,  can  ever  do.  In  other  words,  they  have 
not  fully  recognized  the  subtle  psychological  pre- 
paredness of  drill  under  real  war  conditions,  e.  g., 
with  uniforms,  camps,  barracks,  and  guns  that  shoot 

*Pin  Ling:  The  Public  Schools  and  the  War,  Clark  U.  Thesis. 
1919. 

146 


THE  SOLDIER  IDEAL 

bullets.  The  great  uplift  to  morale  which  this  gives 
to  students  in  high  .school  and  college  in  time  of 
war,  especially  when  students  themselves  realize  their 
own  liability  to  draft  sooner  or  later,  is  something  it 
is  hard  and  perhaps  impossible  to  conserve  in  peace ; 
so  that  the  advocates  of  military  drill  in  institutions 
of  learning  are  right  when  war  is  on  or  imminent, 
but  wrong  when  it  is  over. 

Thus  the  complete  soldier  and  patriot  has  unpre- 
cedented incentives  to  idealism  and  to  be  more  ready 
to  insist  on  and  enlist  in  all  great  and  good  even  if 
radical  reforms.  If  he  has  found  in  the  aims  of  the 
war  a  cause  that  is  so  much  greater  than  himself  that 
in  his  heart  he  has  really  consented,  to  die  for  it  if 
need  be,  the  awful  school  of  war  will  graduate  him  a 
man  more  fully  statured  than  others  who  have  lacked 
this  supreme  initiation  to  life.  He  can  show  "a  healthy 
brisket,"  that  he  has  "grown  hair"  on  the  chest 
not  only  of  his  body  but  of  his  very  soul.  Would  that 
more  soldiers  might  go  on  to  this  higher  diploma  of 
finished  manhood  and  citizenship,  and  not  stop  at 
the  kindergarten  or  primary  stage  of  the  soldierly 
curriculum ! 

Carrying  on  the  war  after  peace  comes. — Many  if 
not  most  great  wars  have  been  followed  by  periods  of 
dis-  and  reorganization,  lawlessness,  selfish  greed  and 
sometimes  moral  license,  and  there  is  a  very  great 
danger  that  this  will  now  be  the  case,  perhaps  espe- 
cially in  this  country.  It  will  surely  be  so  unless  the 
new  vigor  and  robust  virtues  that  war  has  given  us 

147 


MOKALE 

are  kept  up  in  a  new  war  with  the  weapons  of  peace. 
As  Harold  Goddard  well  says,  "Without  the  new 
health,  hitting  force,  adventure,  loyalty,  justice,  and 
high  endeavor  that  the  war  has  bred  peace  will  mean 
stagnation  and  decay."  Even  physical  vigor  is  just 
as  essential  for  the  battles  of  peace  as  for  those  of 
war.  ,We  must  make  justice  a  passion,  realizing  that 
not  only  is  the  world  not  yet  safe  for  democracy  but 
that  democracy  is  nowhere  more  than  half  realized 
and  is  as  yet  only  an  ideal  toward  which  we,  its 
leader,  have  taken  but  a  few  steps.  So  the  soldier 
who  is  a  hero  in  the  struggle  of  arms  often  becomes 
a  moral  coward,  intent  only  on  personal  indulgence 
when  he  comes  home.  To  do  this  is  ethically  worse 
than  desertion. 

Every  intelligent  and  impartial  mind  recognizes 
that  in  this  country  Capitalism  is  a  danger  no  whit 
less  than  Kaiserism  or  military  autocracy,  and  un- 
less we  can  devise  and  commit  ourselves  to  a  substi- 
tute for  war  against  its  abuses,  the  struggle  begun 
with  powder  and  gas  will  be  unfinished.  What  we 
have  to  do  is  to  devise  effective  means  of  setting  a 
back-fire  to  the  principle  of  the  soviet,  as  repre- 
sented in  Bolshevism,  and  this  we  can  do  only  by 
the  method  of  inoculation  with  an  attenuated  virus. 
Kussia  to-day  by  her  propaganda  for  a  cause,  the 
devotees  of  which  however  mistaken  are  ready  to 
sacrifice  their  lives,  is  waging  a  post-bellum  fight 
which  now  promises  to  be  far  more  significant  to  the 
world,  than  anything  she  ever  did  with  her  arms.  In 

148 


THE  SOLDIER  IDEAL 

our  better  cause  we  should  realize  that  if  we  are  to 
maintain  our  world  leadership  in  democracy  we  have 
to  make  ourselves  far  more  democratic  than  we  are 
and  reorganize  our  very  industrial  system  from  bot- 
tom to  top. 

War  inevitably  leads  men's  thoughts  back  to  first 
principles,  and  everywhere  thinking  men  are  recon- 
sidering social,  political,  industrial,  and  even  family 
traditions  and  institutions.  Everything  bottoms  on 
industry,  and  even  in  the  Non-Partisan  League, 
which  has  so  much  to  commend  it,  we  already  see  a 
suggestion  of  the  soviet  principle  which  animated 
the  ancient  guilds,  that  cities  and  states  should  be 
ruled  by  real  representatives  of  the  different  lines  of 
industry,  which  should  be  so  reorganized  that  the 
present  greatest  of  all  wastes  in  our  economic  system, 
viz.,  friction  between  Capital  and  Labor  and  unfair 
competition,  can  be  forever  and  as  effectively  wiped 
out  as  we  have  almost  wiped  out  the  old  and  waste- 
ful warfare  between  Science  and  Eeligion.  When  the 
work  of  the  Paris  Conference  is  done  and  political 
boundaries  and  balances  are  agreed  upon,  the  hardest 
of  all  the  wars  against  future  war  should  be  the  chief 
concern  of  the  country  and  the  world.  There  must 
be  no  bolshevik  domination  by  the  proletariat,  and 
indeed  there  can  never  be  save  in  Russia  where  the 
middle  class,  which  was  weak  in  France  in  the 
days  of  the  French  Revolution,  is  less  developed. 
A  true  democracy  will  never  commit  itself  to  the 
foolish  principle  of  the  equality  of  men,  save  in  op- 

149 


portunity.  Individuals  differ  enormously, — in  abili- 
ty, in  capacity  for  service,  in  the  value  of  the  heredi- 
tary strain  that  flows  through  them,  and  in  every- 
thing else,  as  well  as  in  the  kind  of  ability  that  comes 
by  training  and  education;  and  any  political,  social, 
or  industrial  organization  that  prevents  superior 
men  from  attaining  superior  rewards  is  doomed  to 
failure.  The  history  of  this  country,  especially  since 
the  Civil  War  but  indeed  long  before  that,  is  a  tri- 
umphant vindication  of  the  principle  that  the  freer 
men  are  the  less  equal  they  become,  and  while  here 
the  chief  measure  of  ability  has  so  far  been  too  much 
material  reward,  the  instinct  of  competition  which 
prompts  everyone  to  do  and  be  the  greatest  and  best 
he  can  needs  only  regulation.  Interference  with  it  will 
always  bring  not  even  mediocrity  but  inferiority  and 
stagnation. 

The  present,  then,  in  fine  is  the  most  critical  mo- 
ment in  the  history  of  this  country  and  the  world. 
Never  were  there  such  possibilities  of  advance  or  re- 
gression, nor  such  need  of  mobilizing  all  our  moral 
resources  for  the  new  militancy  of  peace.  We  owe 
this  to  the  dead  that  their  self-immolation  be  not  in 
vain ;  we  owe  it  to  our  descendants  that  they  be  really 
free;  and  we  owe  it  to  ourselves  that  we  awake  to 
the  tremendous  issues  now  pending,  for  even  men  of 
to-day  are  but  a  link  between  the  past  and  the  true 
overman  that  is  some  time  to  be.  Thus  the  real 
problem  of  morale  which  is  up  to  us  is  to  face  the 
here  and  now,  to  act  aright  in  the  living  present,  and 

150 


THE  SOLDIER  IDEAL 

to  inaugurate  a  higher  history  of  mankind  compared 
to  which  all  human  records  to  date  are  only  prole- 
gomena or  a  preface. 

We  entered  the  war  to  make  the  world  safe  for 
democracy  but  we  did  far  more;  we  made  the  world 
democratic.  Thus  our  relations  to  these  new  re- 
publics is  very  like  that  of  a  parent  to  the  children 
he  has  brought  into  the  world.  Shall  we  disown  our 
offspring  and  leave  them  orphaned  and  unprotected? 
They  owe  their  new  life  to  us.  We  cannot  expose 
them  in  their  infancy.  It  is  they  now  and  not  we, 
as  we  were  in  Washington's  day  when  we  were  only 
a  belt  along  the  Atlantic,  that  need  to  be  safe- 
guarded from  "entangling  foreign  alliances."  With- 
out our  aid  these  new  democracies  will  not  be  safe 
and  our  war-aims  will  be  aborted.  They  will  not  all 
be  our  mandatories,  perhaps  none  of  them,  but  we  are 
called  by  every  principle  of  honor  to  be  at  least  the 
"big  brother"  of  all  of  them.  When  as  a  result  of  our 
Civil  War  we  set  the  slaves  free,  we  did  not  leave  them 
at  the  mercy  of  their  former  masters  but  did  our  best, 
mistaken  though  our  way  was,  to  establish  them  in 
their  new  freedom.  We  cannot,  of  course,  do  this  for 
the  newly  emancipated  peoples  of  Europe,  although 
they  are  free  solely  because  we  brought  victory  to 
the  Allies  and  they  know  that  we  gave  them  their 
new  life,  but  we  can  cherish  toward  them  the  same 
good  will  and  do  something  to  activate  it.  To  evade 
this  high  duty  would  be  moral  slackerdom  unworthy 
the  spirit  with  which  our  soldiers  fought  and  won. 

151 


The  new  democracies  look  to  us  not  only  because 
we  made  them  free  or  because  we  were  the  first  great 
republic,  but  also  because  they  have  made  us  by  giv- 
ing to  us  so  many  of  their  countrymen,  friends,  and 
relatives  who  have  come  to  these  shores.  Indeed,  we 
are  all  only  and  solely  immigrants  from  Europe,  or 
their  descendants,  and  this  our  country,  which  is  real- 
ly "New  Europe,"  owes  all  that  it  has  and  is  to  "Old 
Europe"  and  we  sfaall  probably  in  future  years  owe 
it  a  far  larger  debt  of  this  kind.  We  have  made  a 
notable  beginning  toward  paying  this  debt  by  our 
arms,  and  we  must  not  repudiate  the  other  larger 
moiety  of  it  that  is  still  due.  It  is  a  great  debt  with 
long-accumulated  interest.  Europe  is  our  father-  or 
mother-land,  and  as  it  ages  it  may  yet  more  need  sup- 
port from  its  young  and  lusty  child  across  the  West- 
ern sea.  From  our  previous  isolation  we  are  now 
called  to  a  new  world  leadership.  The  last  becomes 
the  first.  Have  we  tihe  morale  to  see  this  new  oppor- 
tunity and  to  assume  the  new  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities which  the  Muse  of  History  now  lays  upon  us? 


MORALE,    TESTS,    AND    PERSONNEL    WORK 

Recent  studies  of  types  of  character— Testing  soldiers  and  officers—- 
The development  of  personnel  work  in  the  army  and  in  industry — 
Dangers  here  of  substituting  Kultur  for  culture  in  general  and 
the  same  dangers  now  imminent  in  psychology. 

Besides  the  traits  common  to  all  men  with  which 
our  textbooks  on  psychology  deal,  there  is  now  open 
a  vast  field  of  differential  psychology  which  stresses 
the  points  in  which  individuals  differ.  The  Binet- 
Simon  scale  graded  prepubescent  children  by  psycho- 
logical rather  than  chronological  age.  Introspection 
had  stressed  the  difference  between  eye,  ear,  and 
motor  types  of  reaction.  Before  this  there  were  the 
old  classical  four  temperaments,  some  slight  contri- 
butions to  characterology  by  the  phrenologists,  wihile 
even  the  palmists  added  their  mite.  Characterology 
from  Bahnsen  on  opened  up  certain  new  lines. 
Krasnegorski  applied  Pawlow's  conditioned  reflex  to 
testing  the  mentality  of  babies.  Kraepelin  proposed 
a  new  set  of  symptom  groups  for  the  psychoses.  In 
yet  another  field  MacAuliffe  and  Giovanni  (apparent- 
ly working  more  or  less  independently  of  each  other) 
gave  us  the  four  somatic  types,  in  accordance  with 
which  the  French  students  in  this  field  would  base  a 
markedly  differential  medical  treatment  and  which 
apparently  has  profound  significance  for  assignment 

153 


to  different  lines  of  military  service.  McDougall, 
Thorndike,  Shand,  and  others  have  attempted  to  tab 
off  the  basal  instincts  of  human  nature  and  perhaps 
to  develop  a  scale  on  which  each  individual  differ- 
ence can  be  laid  off.  Nietzsche,  James,  Jung,  Daven- 
port, and  many  others  proposed  new  rubrics  for 
grouping  primary  dispositions.  Many  corporations 
have  experts  who  are  very  clever  in  the  rough-and- 
ready  judgments  of  men  from  the  standpoint  of  effi- 
ciency for  different  tasks.  Psychanalysis  has  a  set  of 
evaluations  of  human  qualities  largely  all  its  own. 
To-day  everybody  is  tested  save  only  the  testers  them- 
selves. They  have  a  field  that  is  absolutely  unlimited 
because  every  single  trait,  attribute,  or  activity  pos- 
sible to  man's  body  or  soul  can  be  graded.  But  no 
one  has  ever  attempted  to  estimate  the  comparative 
value  of  these  innumerable  scales,  and  beyond  the 
rather  high  but  probably  over-rated  worth  of  the  in- 
dex of  correlations  which  is  reached  by  purely  outer 
and  mechanical  methods,  we  have  little  light  on  just 
what  is  the  meaning  of  the  ratings,  or  even  just  what 
fundamental  human  qualities  they  imply.  Until  we 
are  much  farther  on  here,  this  at  present  all-absorb- 
ing and  most  interesting  and  promising  work,  can- 
not begin  to  celebrate  its  "harvest-home." 

All  this  work  falls  into  two  very  distinct  domains : 
(1)  The  first  looks  at  human  nature  itself  and  would 
inaugurate  a  new  quest  for  the  fundamental  disposi- 
tions of  men.  It  finds  many  misfits  between  man  and 
his  environment — here,  repression;  there,  over-stimu- 

154 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

lation.  The  institutions  of  modern  civilization  would 
thus  have  to  be  more  or  less  remolded  to  meet  man's 
primal  nature  and  to  eliminate  all  these  disharmonies 
between  it  and  his  environment,  or  else  the  latter 
must  be  changed.  Culture  says  the  environment  must 
first  of  all  fit  man ;  Kultur f  vice  versa,  that  the  man 
must  be  fitted  to  his  environment.  The  first  princi- 
ples to  which  in  crises  everything  tends  to  make  us 
revert  are  always  what  man  really  and  at  bottom  is, 
needs,  or  wants  to  help  on  his  development.  (2)  The 
other  group  of  students  of  this  readjustment  starts 
from  established  institutions  to  find  what  human 
factors  they  need  and  seek  to  remold  individuals  ac- 
cordingly. These  two  lines  of  psychological  study 
represented  by  the  testers  and  analyzers  of  human 
nature  into  its  native  elements  have  so  far  had  almost 
no  influence  upon  eacfh  other,  and  their  tendencies 
are  as  disparate  as  those  of  culture  and  Kultur.  But 
to  extend  the  small  common  ground  between  them 
until  their  coordination  is  developed  and  complete  is 
the  real  goal  of  all  these  new  explorations  into  the 
dominion  of  Mansoul. 

It  was  in  the  army  tests  that  the  Kultur  method  of 
psychological  study  attained  its  highest  triumph, 
thanks  to  the  sagacity  and  energy  of  Yerkes,  Thorn- 
dike,  Dodge,  Scott,  and  many  others.  Adopted  with 
hesitation  and  regarded  with  some  suspicion  at  first, 
these  methods  have  now  won  almost  universal  respect 
and  are  a  permanent  part  of  our  military  organiza- 
tion, and  psychological  rating  will  henceforth  have 

155 


MOKALE 

weight  even  in  the  promotion  and  demotion  of  officers. 
Yerkes1  has  given  us  the  best  sketch  of  both  plans 
and  achievements  here.  The  Psychology  Committee 
of  April,  1917,  first  designated  twelve  other  commit- 
tees, viz.,  those  on  literature,  examinations  of  re- 
cruits, aviation,  selection  of  men  for  special  tasks, 
problems  of  vision,  military  training  and  discipline, 
incapacity  including  shell-shock,  emotional  stability, 
propaganda  behind  the  German  lines,  acoustic  prob- 
lems, tests  for  deception,  and  on  thie  adjustment 
of  psychological  instruction  to  military  educational 
needs.  The  appropriation  was  at  first  very  small 
and  most  of  these  committees  did  relatively  little. 
Tests  were  wrought  out,  revised,  and  printed,2  and 
equipment  for  two  hundred  examining  officers  manu- 
factured, etc.  One  result  was  that  in  the  first  six 
months  nearly  45,000  men,  or  three  per  cent  of  those 
tested,  were  found  to  have  a  mental  age  of  under  ten 
years  and  many  would  not  be  worth  to  the  govern- 
ment what  their  training  would  cost.  Therefore, 
gome  were  discharged,  some  were  sent  to  the  labor 
battalions,  and  others  were  put  into  other  lines  of 
service  and  sometimes  given  special  training.  One 
quest  was  for  men  of  superior  intelligence,  suitable 

1  Report  of  the  Psychology  Committee  of  the  National  Research 
Council,  Psy.  Rev.,  March,  1919. 

*The  Examiner's  Guide,  Sept.,  1917,  a  pamphlet  which  had  to  be 
kept  private  and  confidential  during  the  war.  See,  too,  the  follow- 
ing pamphlets:  Army  Mental  Tests  (Wash.,  Nov.  22,  1918) ;  L.  M. 
Terman :  The  Use  of  Intelligence  Tests  in  the  Army,  Psy.  Bui., 
June,  1918.  For  general  references  see  Psychological  Tests:  A  Bib- 
liography. Comp.  by  Helen  Boardman,  Bureau  of  Educational  Ex- 
perments,  N.  Y.,  1917 ;  also  Psychological  Tests :  A  Revised  and 
Classified  Bibliography,  116,  by  D.  A.  Mitchell  and  G.  J.  Ruger.  Bu- 
reau of  Educational  Experiments,  N.  Y.,  1918. 

156 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

candidates  for  the  Officers'  Training  School.  By 
weeding  out  the  least  competent  thus,  those  abler 
could  progress  faster  in  their  training,  as  has  so  often 
been  shown  in  schools  by  eliminating  morons  from 
the  class.  The  preliminary  method  of  testing  intelli- 
gence was  by  groups  of  eighty  at  first,  and  later  in 
some  camps  in  groups  of  five  hundred;  the  doubtful 
ones  being  given  further  individual  examinations. 
Very  clever  schemes  were  devised  to  test  the  intelli- 
gence of  illiterates  and  those  who  did  not  know  our 
language. 

A  School  of  Military  Psychology  was  organized  to 
train  the  personnel  of  this  work.  Very  much  of  the 
experimentation  was  devoted  to  finding  qualities  of 
mind  and  body  indicative  of  aptitude  for  flying  in  the 
aviation  corps,  and  also  methods  of  cultivating  psy- 
chological qualities  necessary  for  success  here,  and  at 
Mineola  a  laboratory  was  developed  by  Watson  to 
study  the  psychological  effects  of  high  altitudes, 
oxygen  insufficiency,  ability  to  point  a  plane  quickly 
and  accurately  at  any  time  and  in  any  direction, 
nystagmus  after  rotation,  the  effects  of  age,  social 
status,  athleticism,  and  many  other  traits ;  and  all 
this  increased  the  effectiveness  of  placement  in  the 
aviation  corps. 

Dodge  began  his  remarkable  series  of  practical 
studies  by  testing  gun  pointers  in  the  Navy  and  was 
thus  able  to  analyze  the  whole  problem  of  aiming 
from  the  beginning  of  training  the  gun  toward  the 
target  on  to  adjustment  to  its  motion,  the  effect  upon 

157 


MORALE 

aim  of  pressing  the  firing  key,  etc.  He  then  took  up 
the  problem  of  the  effects  of  gas  masks  of  various 
makes  upon  visual  acuity,  the  limitation  of  the  pe- 
ripheral field  by  various  types  of  window,  the  psychic 
effects  of  the  modifications  of  respiration,  and  the 
retarding  effects  of  the  masks  upon  eye  reaction.  He 
next  addressed  himself  to  the  study  of  the  effective 
anti-submarine  lookout  service  and  listening  posts. 
Another  committee  devoted  itself  to  the  process  of  re- 
education. Tests  were  devised,  too,  to  diagnose  fit- 
ness for  the  radio  service  before  the  training  of  the 
cadet  was  undertaken,  and  very  valuable  were  the 
measures  of  acuity  of  hearing  at  all  pitches  and 
levels.  The  committee  proposed  a  course  on  human 
action  and  developed  what  it  called  an  Alpha  scheme 
of  examination  for  each  member  of  the  Students' 
Army  Training  Corps. 

In  many  vocations,  e.  g.,  telegraphy,  educated  men 
often  failed  while  others  of  very  modest  training  and 
limited  general  ability  took  to  it  readily.  This 
problem  needs  further  exploration.  Camouflage,  too, 
had  a  very  large  psychological  side.  The  distribution 
of  intelligence  ratings  between  the  seven  grades  from 
very  superior  to  very  inferior  show  fewest  in  the  first 
class  and  a  great  majority  in  the  lower  four  of  these 
groups.  Various  comparisons  were  made  between  the 
results  of  these  methods  of  sorting  and  the  estimates 
of  officers  who  had  been  with  their  men  long  enough 
to  know  them  well,  and  there  was  generally  a  very 
high  degree  of  coordination. 

158 


MOKALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

Wars  are  won,  as  Crowder  said,  "by  judicious  ex- 
pendiutre  of  brain  power  rather  than  by  a  stupen- 
dous expenditure  of  man  power."  When  Germany 
mobilized  her  army,  nearly  every  man  had  had  two 
years  or  more  of  military  training,  had  shown  what 
he  could  do,  and  was  placed  accordingly  so  that  the 
army  was,  as  Terman  says,  "already  made  and  the 
parts  of  the  machine  needed  only  to  be  assembled." 
Here  our  draftees  represented  every  kind  of  training 
and  intelligence,  and  came  from  all  classes.  They  were 
not  an  army  but  only  the  raw  material  for  one,  and 
until  this  organization  was  effected,  tlhey  were  only 
a  mob  who  could  be  beaten  by  a  very  small  body  of 
trained  men.  Testing  aids  not  merely  in  placing 
men  but  in  reducing  the  time  necessary  for  organiz- 
ing and  training  troops.  Besides  the  Alpha  test  of 
ability  to  comprehend,  remember,  follow  instructions, 
distinguish  between  relevant  and  irrelevant  answers 
to  common-sense  questions,  combine  related  ideas  into 
a  logical  whole,  and  fix  attention  on  a  goal  without 
diversion  by  suggestion,  for  those  who  could  read 
and  write  English,  (the  twenty-one  questions  of 
which  were  answered  by  checking  or  underlining, 
thus  permitting  the  use  of  a  stencil  for  computing  re- 
sults), there  was  the  Beta  test  for  both  foreigners  and 
illiterates.  It,  too,  tested  general  ability  but  by  more 
concrete  methods.  Instructions,  the  ability  to  under- 
stand which  was  tested,  were  given  in  pantomime,  tlie 
power  to  form  arbitrary  associations  quickly,  to  find 
likeness  and  differences  among  symbols,  to  detect 

159 


MORALE 

absurdities — in  all  these  tests  the  answers  required 
no  writing.  The  third  class  were  individual  tests 
used  in  reexamining  those  who  failed  to  pass  the 
group  tests.  Here  various  scales,  including  the  per- 
formance scale,  were  used.  It  was  on  the  basis  of 
these  tests  that  the  seven-step  gradation  above  was 
based.  It  was  found  that  this  score  of  ability  to 
learn  and  to  think  quickly,  etc.,  was  little  influenced 
by  schooling  because  some  of  the  highest  records 
were  made  by  those  who  never  finished  the  eight 
grades.  These  tests  were  designed  to  replace  other 
methods  of  judging  men's  value  to  the  many  branches 
of  the  service.  They  were  not  infallible  or  exhaustive 
for  they  did  not  measure  courage,  personal  leader- 
ship, loyalty,  nor  the  emotional  traits  that  make  men 
4<carry  on,"  although  these  traits  are  more  likely  to 
be  found  in  those  of  superior  intelligence,  which  is 
all  that  is  tested  here  and.  is  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant single  factor  in  efficiency.  As  Terman  well 
says,  "a  man's  value  to  the  service  should  not  be 
tested  by  his  intelligence  alone,"  and  he  adds  that 
"in  no  previous  war  has  so  much  depended  upon  the 
prompt  and  complete  utilization  of  the  mental  ability 
of  the  individual  soldier."  He  intimates,  too,  that  the 
intelligence  of  the  soldier  has  never  been  so  promptly 
and  completely  utilized  and  that  this  method  may 
shorten  the  period  of  preparation  by  months.  It  prob- 
ably costs  not  less  than  $5,000  to  train,  support,  and 
bring  a  soldier  back.  Thus  good  tests  saved  the 
country  this  expense  for  all  whom  they  proved  in- 

160 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

competent  to  fight,  and  if  the  war  cost  us  fifty  mil- 
lion dollars  per  day  and  these  methods  shortened  it, 
and  it  cost  but  twenty-five  cents  to  test  one  man,  as 
wre  are  told,  its  economic  value  is  obvious.  Two  or 
three  years  ago,  as  Yerkes  well  says,  this  mental  engi- 
neering was  a  dream  of  a  few  visionaries.  To-day  it 
is  a  branch  of  technology  which,  although  created 
by  the  war,  is  evidently  to  be  perpetuated  and  to 
grow  in  service  and  significance. 

'Army  personnel  work.3  The  extremely  complex  or- 
ganization of  the  modern  army  requires  very  many 
kinds  of  skill  and  expertness,  and  thus  one  of  the  first 
problems  of  organization  was :  ( 1 )  to  find  out  in  de- 
tail every  kind  of  preexisting  expertness  which  was 
needed,  (2)  to  examine  every  man  to  determine  just 
what  he  could  do  best,  and  (3)  to  place  him  in  the 
army  where  he  would  be  most  serviceable.  Years 
would  have  been  required  to  train  all  the  specialists 

•  See  Personnel,  a  weekly  four-page  journal  published  by  the  Ad- 
jutant General  and  the  Committee  on  Classification  of  Personnel  in 
the  Army  (First  No.,  August  1,  1918).  Also  Trade  Specifications 
and  Index,  U.  8.  Arr-iy,  Govt.  Printing  Office,  1918.  This  standard- 
izes vocational  terminology  in  the  army  and  defines  the  duties  of 
specialists  and  skilled  tradesmen  required  by  the  various  technical 
organizations.  Each  definition  states  duties,  qualifications,  and  the 
nearest  equivalent  or  substitute  occupation,  and  describes  the  ideal 
skilled  man  from  the  army  standpoint.  Also  Index  of.  Occupations, 
which  sets  forth  the  previous  civil  callings  which  qualified  men  to 
fulfill  the  duties  called  for  by  all  branches  and  units/of  the  army. 
There  are  one  hundred  and  six  group  headings,  ana  under  most 
of  them  are  many  subdivisions,  e.  ff.,  under  "auto  mechanic"  are 
nearly  twenty.  See,  also,  The  Right  Man  in  the  Right  Place  in  the 
Army.  This  describes  with  numerous  photographs  the  exhibit  of 
army  personnel  work  in  Washington  in  January,  1919,  from  the  care- 
ful inspection  of  which  one  can  obtain  an  excellent  general  idea  of 
the  work.  See,  too,  Lt.-Ool.  W.  V.  Bingham's  Army  Personnel  Work 
in  the  Journal  of  Applied  Psychology  (March,  1919),  which  gives  the 
best  brief  summary.  There  have  been  many  other  less  authoritative 
and  summary  accounts  of  this  work. 

161 


MORALE 

needed,  and  so  it  became  a  very  vital  problem  to 
utilize  every  kind  of  ability  and  to  do  so  in  the  least 
possible  time.  Fortunately  much  had  already  been 
done  in  this  country  in  various  centers  and  industries 
to  fit  the  man  to  his  job.  As  was  proper,  psychologists 
led  in  the  army  work  to  this,  end  and  the  work  was 
developed  with  extraordinary  skill  and  rapidity,  al- 
though it  did  not  on  the  whole  attain  here  the  effect- 
iveness of  similar  work  in  Great  Britain. 

Thus  first  the  job  had  to  be  studied,  perhaps  ana- 
lyzed into  its  elements,  and  the  capacities  of  each  in- 
dividual were  rated  on  a  card  by  those  competent.  At 
first  the  personnel  officers  had  very  little  to  guide 
them  in  utilizing  the  human  wealth  of  trained  arti- 
sans, teachers,  farmers,  shop  hands,  etc.,  and  often 
illiterates  and  men  not  speaking  English  poured  into 
the  cantonments.  Their  preparation,  too,  required 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  entire  army  organization 
to  determine  where  various  kinds  of  ability  were 
needed.  This  work  grew  in  importance  until  the  gov- 
ernment, which  began  with  an  appropriation  of 
$25,000,  gave  a  total  of  $851,000  to  it.  A  committee 
was  organized  with  Walter  Dill  Scott  as  director,  and 
E.  L.  Thorndike,  Raymond  Dodge,  R.  M.  Yerkes,  L.  M. 
Terman,  J.  B.  Watson,  and  other  of  our  ablest  psy- 
chologists. 

For  classifications  and  placement  personnel  officers 
were  established  in  all  army  divisions,  depots,  and 
training  camps,  coast  stations,  aviation  fields,  and 
the  special  training  camps  for  staff  officers,  etc.  In 

162 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

each  office  a  special  card  system  furnished  informa- 
tion as  to  the  educational,  occupational,  and  military 
qualifications  of  every  man.  Bingham,  whose  excel- 
lent report  we  follow  here,  tells  us  that  witih  a  mini- 
mum of  clerical  work  this  system  selected  nearly  a 
million  men  for  transfer,  largely  into  technical  units, 
and  still  more  within  the  divisions  or  camps.  Sixteen 
civilian  supervisors  aided,  and  in  all  450  officers  and 
7,000  men  were  engaged  in  personnel  work,  and  three 
and  one-half  million  soldiers  were  interviewed  by 
trained  examiners.  The  skilled  tradesmen  found  in 
each  contingent  of  the  draft  received  the  requisitions 
from  the  staff  corps  for  specialists,  forwarded  them 
to  the  camps,  and  thus  a  clearing  office  was  put  in 
operation,  and  before  long  60,000  requisitions  for 
men  of  designated  qualities  had  been  filled.  Defini- 
tions of  many  hundreds  of  different  trades  needed  by 
modern  warfare  were  brought  together  in  an  index, 
and  tables  of  occupational  needs  and  personal  spec- 
ifications were  worked  out,  which  were  studied  and 
approved  by  our  army  units  in  France,  and  this 
greatly  helped  in  accelerating  the  preparedness  of 
our  newest  divisions.  An  elaborate  system  of  prac- 
tical trade  tests  was  devised  and  standardized  and  in- 
stituted, and  over  a  million  men  were  soon  not  only 
classified  but  graded  as  to  their  efficiency  in  various 
trades. 

Then  came  the  personnel  work  for  officers,  with 
qualification  cards,  occupational,  educational,  mili- 
tary, and  also  rating  by  superior  officers.  This  sys- 

163 


MORALE 

tern  was  put  into  use  throughout  the  entire  army, 
the  ratings  being  frequently  revised  by  a  uniform 
system.  It  was  applied  first  to  candidates  for  com- 
missions, later  in  selecting  those  for  the  Officers' 
Training  School,  and  now  its  use  is  universal  and  re- 
vised every  three  months.  It  has  become  an  import- 
ant factor  in  promotions,  demotions,  discharge,  and 
appointments  to  the  reserve  corps.  There  are  defini- 
tions of  the  duties  and  qualifications  of  no  less  than 
five  hundred  kinds  of  officers  in  the  various  branches 
of  our  service  to  tell  just  what  each  can  do,  and  on 
the  basis  of  such  data  statistical  studies  have  been 
made  of  the  relative  significance  of  age,  civilian 
earnings,  training,  intelligence,  etc. 

An  improved  system  of  tests  for  aviation  candi- 
dates has  been  introduced,  together  with  a  new  pro- 
gram of  examination  and  selection.  With  the  coop- 
eration of  the  General  Staff  and  the  Surgeon  Gener- 
al's office,  plans  were  also  made  for  segregating,  as- 
sorting, training  and  utilizing  the  partially  fit.  The 
psychologists,  who  tested  1,760,000  soldiers,  furnished 
the  personnel  officers  with  their  intelligence  ratings. 

The  navy  methods  of  selecting  and  training  men, 
and  especially  the  work  of  the  fire-control  squad,  the 
gun-pointer,  the  hydro-phone  listener,  and  the  lookout 
have  been  improved. 

The  War  Service  Exchange  (January  18,  1918)' 
classified  the  applications  of  all  persons  desiring  to 
serve  the  government  in  any  capacity  outside  the 
army,  and  dealt  with  about  110,000  written  proffers 

164 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

of  service  and  placed  some  10,000  men,  often  those  of 
superior  attainments. 

After  fourteen  months  of  service  under  the  Attor- 
ney-General this  Committee  on  Classification  was 
transferred  to  the  General  Staff  and  merged  with  the 
Central  Personnel  Branch  newly  created  to  super- 
vise  the  procurement,  placement,  promotion,  and 
transfer  of  officers  throughout  all  branches  of  the 
army.  This  means  that  centralized  control  of  the 
personnel  work  for  both  officers  and  soldiers  was  rec- 
ognized and  established  as  an  integral  part  of  our 
army  organization.  Among  its  legacies,  too,  are  the 
classification  card,  the  index  of  occupations,  trade 
specifications,  standardized  trade  tests,  and  the  gen- 
eral concept  of  personnel  specifications,  as  well  as  the 
idea  of  definition  of  duties.  Thus  the  war  bequeaths 
to  peace  a  method  that  is  no  less  significant  for  in- 
dustry and  education.  It  has  taugiht  us  that  any  per- 
son pursuing  any  kind  of  course  needs  a  clear  defini- 
tion of  precisely  the  duties  for  which  he  is  being 
trained  and  to  this  he  must  fit  his  knowledge.  The 
instructor  should  be  able  to  speak  with  authority  on 
these  points,  and  this  will  greatly  enhance  his  own 
effectiveness  and  give  new  zest.  Every  foreman  and 
employer,  too,  must  make  the  formulation  of  duties 
to  be  filled  very  much  more  'specific,  etc.* 

The  above  outline  suggests  to  the  most  casual 
reader  the  great  significance  of  this  work  for  morale. 

4  For  this  statement  of  the  personnel  work  in  the  army  I  have 
drawn  largely  upon  Bingham's  pamphlet. 

165 


MORALE 

Each  individual  unit  knows  under  this  system  that 
all  his  qualifications,  whether  inherited  or  acquired ; 
his  physical,  mental,  and  moral  traits  are  carefully 
estimated  by  those  most  competent  to  judge,  and  that 
in  every  position  in  life  where  his  promotion  depends 
on  others  these  ratings  will  be  taken  into  account.  In 
some  skills  there  are  three  and  in  others  four  grades 
of  efficiency. 

In  every  100,000  men  requested  by  the  Staff  Corps, 
82,000  were  occupational  specialists;  and  in  every 
100,000  men  needed  by  the  infantry  divisions,  40,000 
had  to  be  such.  In  every  10,000  men  drafted,  6,200 
were  in  some  classified  occupation.  Only  181  chem- 
ists were  found  in  100,000  men.  In  all  as  finally  clas- 
sified there  were  714  occupations.  Some  3,365,000 
men  were  thus  classified,  and  1,191,000  were  ordered. 
There  was  a  large  proportion  of  low-grade  men  among 
the  disciplinary  classes.  Trade  tests  were  devised, 
most  of  which  could  be  given  anywhere  by  any  intel- 
ligent man  in  a  short  time  and  with  no  elaborate 
equipment.  These  tests  were  also  of  three  kinds,  oral, 
picture,  and  performance.  The  four  classes  generally 
recognized  were :  novice,  apprentice,  journeyman,  and 
expert.  For  performance  tests  a  blacksmith's  shop 
was  ready,  and  there  was  a  trial  course  with  plenty 
of  curves,  stops,  up  and  down  inclines,  etc.,  to  test 
out  auto  drivers;  also  linemen,  and  pattern  makers. 
One  interesting  general  conclusion  is  that  among 
those  professing  trade  ability,  when  experimentally 
grouped,  the  following  results  were  obtained:  6  per 

166 


MORALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

cent,  proved  to  be  experts;  24  per  cent,  journeymen; 
40  per  cent,  apprentices;  and  30  per  cent,  were  inex- 
perienced. 

It  is  in  the  incalculable  value  of  personnel  work 
not  only  for  the  army  but  for  industry  that  there 
lurks  one  of  the  gravest  dangers  of  our  modern  civi- 
lization, viz.,  that  above  referred  to  of  substituting 
Kultur  for  culture.  The  general  educational  lesson 
already  often  drawn  from  this  work  is  that  every  stu- 
dent should  decide  as  early  and  clearly  as  possible 
the  work  he  wishes  to  do  in  life,  and  should  strive  to 
know  all  he  can  about  its  duties  and  the  qualifications 
for  success  in  it.  The  desire  for  this  success  should 
animate  all  his  studies  and  be  the  source  of  all  his  in- 
terests, and  he  should  in  his  curriculum  grade  and 
evaluate  all  topics  fby  their  worth  in  aiding  him  to  suc- 
cess in  his  chosen  line.  Thus  we  already  have  peda- 
gogues of  high  and  low  degree  who  have  adopted  the 
slogan,  "No  more  aimless  studies;  make  everything 
tell  for  your  future  vocation,  for  life  is  too  short  and 
human  energy  too  feeble  to  be  wasted  in  branches 
that  give  mere  delectation." 

Now  this  ideal,  if  fully  realized,  would  almost  re- 
generate many  schools,  topics,  and  even  higher  insti- 
tutions of  learning.  It  would  mark  more  or  less  of  a 
renaissance  in  our  economic  and  social  life  by  giving 
the  better  preparedness  for  all  kinds  of  positions  that 
we  so  much  need  and  the  lack  of  which  is  perhaps 
our  greatest  national  waste.  It  would  increase  per- 
sonal incomes  and  enhance  national  prosperity.  This 

167 


MOKALE 

was  the  policy  to  which  Germany  owes  her  extraordi- 
nary development,  especially  since  1870.  Every 
young  person  was  fitting  into  some  specific  pattern. 
Even  shoeblacks  and  chimney  sweeps  had  a  course 
of  training  prescribed  for  them.  In  a  word,  all  knew 
ever  earlier  in  life  just  what  they  were  going  to  be 
and  do,  and  strove  to  acquire  just  that  knowledge 
which  would  be  most  useful  to  them  in  the  various 
callings,  all  of  which  were  becoming  more  skilled  or 
more  professional.  Man  becomes  complete  only  when 
he  is  fitted  in  as  an  integral  part  to  his  own  proper 
place  in  the  state,  church,  business,  etc. 

But  to  fit  a  man  for  a  preformed  place  in  a  system 
is  not  to  educate  him  even  in  the  etymological  sense 
of  that  word.  It  makes  for  perfection  along  present 
lines  but  it  also  makes  changes  to  new  lines  of  devel- 
opment even  more  difficult.  It  institutionalizes,  con- 
ventionalizes, discounts  individual  initiative  and  still 
more  radical  reforms,  and  gives  a  sense  of  finality 
and  achievement  rather  than  one  of  docility.  It  is 
prone  to  bring  stability  that  passes  too  readily  into 
rigidity  and  a  prematurity  that  forgets  all  the  enthu- 
siasm of  youth.  Kultur  makes  the  individual  feel 
that  he  has  arrived ;  culture,  that  he  is  just  starting, 
that  the  best  things  are  yet  to  be,  and  that  new  voca- 
tions must  be  constantly  evolved  in  a  community  that 
is  really  vital  and  growing.  Culture  has  preeminent 
regard  for  native  interests ;  Kultur  for  those  that  are 
secondary  and  induced  or  that  come  from  practical 
life,  which  culture  regards  as  important  but  subordi- 

168 


MOKALE,  TESTS,  AND  PERSONNEL  WORK 

nate  and  so  keeps  a  generous  place  for  untechnalized 
knowledge.  The  ideal  of  culture  would  be  not  merely 
to  have  every  man  always  doing  the  thing  at  which  he 
could  earn  most  now  or  later  but  the  thing  that  he 
loves  best  to  do,  more  or  less  regardless  of  what  it 
pays,  finding  thus  an  inner  motive  and  placing  it  on 
the  whole  above  outer  opportunistic  ones.  Only  thus 
can  human  nature  continue  to  put  forth  new  sprouts 
and  civilization  be  secured  against  stagnation  and 
mechanization. 

The  contribution  of  all  this  work  to  morale  both  in 
the  army  and  in  the  arts  of  peace  has  never  been  ade- 
quately realized  even  by  those  wrho  inaugurated  it.  I 
believe  its  value  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  First, 
we  all  want  self-knowledge,  and  an  essential  part  of 
this  is  to  know  how  we  rank  as  compared  with  others. 
Boys  in  a  school  have  to  know  who  can  whip  whom, 
and  girls  to  appraise  their  good  looks,  etc.  Emula- 
tion and  the  dread  of  inferiority  are  among  the  fun- 
damental motives  in  the  human  herd.  In  a  democ- 
racy men  need  to  be  taught  that  they  are  not  equal 
save  in  opportunity,  with  the  prestige  of  birth  and 
inheritance  swept  away.  Native  inequalities  not  only 
ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of  but  all  the  more  recog- 
nized and  given  freest  scope.  The  abolition  of  facti- 
tious prestige  has  no  purpose  if  it  does  not  mean  the 
inauguration  of  nature's  aristocracy  of  the  ablest  and 
the  best.  If  the  high  are  brought  low  and  the  humble 
exalted,  it  must  be  by  intrinsic  merit  or  desert,  by  the 
power  of  some  to  lead  or  by  the  lack  of  this  power  in 

169 


MORALE 

others.  Only  on  this  basis  can  any  organization  or 
institution,  social  or  political,  be  permanently  based. 
True  self-knowledge  and  reevaluation  of  self  cure 
even  neurotics.  In  a  true  democracy,  thus,  each  must 
know  his  own  worth  aright  for  this  means  a  new  and 
true  hierarchy  of  gifts  and  attainments,  and  so  it 
must  have  its  leaders  and  its  led,  its  captains  and  its 
privates,  and  even  its  underlings.  It  must  have  its 
ranks,  grades,  and  classes  but  they  must  be  those  Na- 
ture decrees.  If  ideals  of  proletarian  rule  ignore  this 
and  level  the  weak  and  the  strong,  they  fly  in  the  face 
of  the  basal  facts  of  human  nature  no  less  than  does 
the  opposite  extreme  of  dominance  by  right  of  wealth 
and.  ;birth.  Such  ratings  as  the  above  thus  contribute 
their  moiety  not  only  to  discriminate  between  indi- 
viduals who  are  a  liability  and  those  who  are  an  as- 
set to  the  community,  but  give  to  each  who  submits  to 
such  tests  and  in  any  degree  accepts  their  findings, 
some  sense  of  his  true  place  in  the  world.  If  they 
tear  down  the  delusions  of  the  unfit  about  themselves 
they  give  a  splendid  stimulus  to  those  of  low  degree 
whom  they  exalt,  and  a  complete  democracy  means 
and  needs  just  this  and  little  else  if  we  consider  all 
its  implications.  Each  man  and  woman  in  the  place 
he  is  qualified  by  Nature  and  culture  to  fill  is  its 
ideal. 

Much  as  we  crave  self-knowledge,  it  is,  however, 
always  attained  with  more  or  less  resistance,  so  that 
there  is  no  danger  that  the  methods  and  the  value  of 
all  such  findings  and  ratings  will  not  be  sufficiently 

170 


criticized,  especially  when  promotions  based  on  them 
compete  with  older  bases  such  as  seniority  in  service, 
the  false  humanism  that  refuses  to  recognize  in- 
feriority because  it  is  pathetic,  or  that  would  lower 
standards  of  efficiency  to  keep  the  slower  pace  of  the 
weak ;  or  especially  the  misconception  of  a  democracy 
that  would  ignore  Nature's  distinctions  and  so  inter- 
pret equality  as  to  impair  its  freedom  to  profit  to  the 
uttermost  by  every  kind  of  superiority  each  may  pos- 
sess. It  is  in  the  light  of  such  considerations  that  we 
must  rate  very  highly  the  value  of  all  such  tests,  not 
only  in  war  but  in  all  departments  of  life  in  times  of 
peace. 

Finally,  if  we  ask  what  is  the  value  of  such  work 
for  psychology  and  its  morale,  our  verdict  must  be 
less  favorable.  This  splendid  young  science  has 
rather  suddenly  gone  out  into  practical  life,  conquer- 
ing and  to  conquer.  It  has  not  only  taught  scores  of 
occupations  how  to  pick  and  assign  their  employees 
to  special  tasks,  has  taught  advertisers  'how  to  make 
their  displays  more  catchy  and  alluring,  has  told 
printers  how  to  space  better  and  suggested  improved 
forms  of  type  to  increase  the  amount  of  clear  legi- 
bility per  unit  of  space,  has  inaugurated  better  color 
harmonies  for  textiles  and  decorations,  but  it  has  also 
ma$e  school  work  more  economical  and  effective,  has 
given  shrewd  suggestions  to  drummers  in  the  art  of 
selling,  told  how  to  make  shop  window  displays  more 
attractive,  developed  an  ingenious  technic  of  hand- 
ling and  graphic  presentation  of  masses  of  data  gath- 

171 


MOEALE 

ered  in  many  fields,  has  analyzed  many  industrial 
processes  and  improved  upon  those  which  are  tradi- 
tional to  the  great  enhancement  of  efficiency  in  many 
lines  of  work,  has  improved  accounting,  has  taught 
us  better  ways  of  dealing  with  criminals  and  the  sub- 
normal, surveyed  industrial  and  educational  institu- 
tions and  systems,  and  has  accomplished  signal  re- 
sults in  many  other  domains. 

But  the  question  is  still  insistent  how  many  of  the 
scores  of  psychologists  who  have  turned  aside  to  this 
work  have  really  made  or  found  in  all  these  fields  sub- 
stantial contributions  to  pure  psychology,  behavior- 
istic,  genetic,  or  introspective.  Is  there  danger  here 
that  our  science  will  lapse  from  culture  to  Kultur? 
Psychology  is  the  acme  of  all  the  studies  that  deal 
with  men.  It  has  accomplished  very  much  in  the 
study  of  the  senses,  memory,  association,  attention, 
the  intellectual  processes,  and  even  the  volitional  life 
of  man,  but  it  now  confronts  the  yet  vaster  and 
harder  problems  of  feeling,  emotion,  sentiment,  or  af- 
fectivity  generally,  and  here  a  new  balance  must  be 
struck  between  synthesis  and  analysis ;  and  to  this  end 
it  needs  data  broader  than  those  which  the  control  of 
conditions  of  the  laboratory  can  supply  as  a  point  of 
new  departures.  Instead  of  carrying  on  the  well-begun 
investigations  into  child  life,  instinct  in  animals,  the 
insane,  primitive  races,  the  analysis  of  philosophies, 
the  problems  of  esthetics  and  logic,  and  increasing  our 
capital  of  knowledge,  we  have  devoted  ourselves  to 
the  application  of  what  was  already  ascertained. 

172 


SPECIFIC    MORALE    FOR    THE    ARMY 

Outline  of  the  Munson  memorandum — Characterization  of  the  meth- 
ods of  developing  morale  in  Camp  Greenleaf— Lessons  of  this 
work. 

March  2,  1918,  Brigadier-General  E.  L.  Munson 
submitted  in  a  confidential  manuscript  to  the  Sur- 
geon-General a  memorandum  setting  forth  the  need 
of  a  systematic  plan  for  the  psychological  stimulation 
of  troops  in  promoting  fighting  efficiency.  The  insight 
shown  by  and  the  practical  significance  of  this  note 
merits  the  amplest  recognition  not  only  by  the  army, 
which  it  received,  but  also-  by  psychologists,  who  have 
not  fully  appreciated  its  value,  and  so  I  epitomize 
and  quote  from  it  as  follows. 

There  has  hitherto  been  little  effort  by  the  War 
Department  to  make  effective  use  of  the  mental  fac- 
tor in  war,  to  which  very  few  officers  have  given  seri- 
ous consideration  while  most  have  entirely  ignored 
it.  The  effectiveness  of  a  fighting  force  depends  on 
the  willingness  of  its  units  to  contend  and  if  neces- 
sary to  die  for  an  idea,  and  in  our  'Service  the  incul- 
cation of  such  ideals  has  been  left  to  chance  and  is 
at  the  very  best  crude,  so  that  many  do  not  know  what 
they  are  fighting  for,  many  are  illiterate  or  of  a  low 
order  of  intelligence,  or  foreign-born  and  unfamiliar 

173 


MOEALE 

with  this  country  or  even  its  language,  and  so  their 
will  to  support  vicissitudes  and  to  conquer  is  im- 
paired. We  have  been  materialistic  in  our  military 
service,  thinking  only  of  the  men,  money,  and  muni- 
tions necessary,  but  this  does  not  make  the  true 
fighter. 

Morale  is  the  driving  force  behind  the  spear-point 
and  gives  efficacy  to  equipment, training,and  expendi- 
ture. It  is  the  steam  in  the  boiler,  an  imponderable 
dominating  power  which,  if  it  is  below  the  highest 
standard,  lessens  the  chance  of  victory.  Russia  col- 
lapsed because  she  lacked  morale.  Its  presence  gave 
victory  to  a  handful  of  Greeks  against  the  Persian 
hordes  at  Marathon.  It  gives  temper  to  the  edge  of 
resolve.  In  our  own  previous  wars  we  had  to  depend 
on  volunteers  whose  very  enlistment  was  an  initial 
impulse  tending  toward  victory,  so  that  all  we  had  to 
do  was  to  transform  every  individual  impulse  into 
the  unity  which  distinguishes  an  army  from  a  mob. 
Now,  however,  most  of  our  soldiers  are  drafted,  and 
their  incentive  to  fight  has  to  be  molded  and  brought 
into  focal  community  of  purpose,  so  that  the  psycho- 
logical problem  facing  the  War  Department  is  vastly 
greater  than  ever  before  in  our  history,  and  whatever 
there  is  in  such  an  army  of  the  wrill-to-win  is  largely 
a  by-product  engendered  incidentally  and  springing 
too  much  from  the  personality  of  the  local  leader.  At 
least  it  is  not  created  intentionally  or  deliberately 
by  the  War  Department,  and  in  this  oversight  it  has 
neglected  its  greatest  asset.  Cowardice  is  a  state  of 

174 


SPECIFIC  MORALE  FOR  THE  ARMY 

mind  and  springs  from  the  depression  due  to  contact 
with  the  unknown  and  its  vague  terrors  magnified  by 
ignorance;  -hence  the  need  of  explanation  in  advance 
of  contact.  Fear  and  panic  are  thus  largely  the  re- 
sults of  imaginary  not  of  real  evils  which  moral  train- 
ing can,  to  a  great  extent,  anticipate  and  remove.  We 
generally  assume  that  the  will-to-win  exists  pre- 
formed among  troops,  but  this  is  false  save  for  a  few. 
It  can,  however,  thrive  under  culture.  Bayonet  ex- 
ercise gives  it  for  individuals  by  arousing  the  instinct 
of  self-preservation.  Drill  gives  it  to  organizations; 
so  does  experience  in  service  and  resentment  at  the 
cruelty  of  the  enemy.  But  we  must  not  limit  our 
training  to  the  body  and  omit  that  of  the  mind. 

Few  are  born  fighters  but  many  may  be  aroused  by 
external  stimuli  to  acts  of  heroic  bravery.  Hence  we 
should  create  an  official  organization  with  ramifica- 
tions through  the  army  detailed  enough  to  reach  each 
individual  at  frequent  intervals  and  affect  his  men- 
tal attitude.  Its  activity  should  be  all-pervasive  and 
should  take  advantage  of  any  change  in  conditions, 
environmental,  military,  or  political,  and  its  sole 
function  should  be  to  intensify  the  will-to-win.  Some 
member  of  the  General  Staff  should  be  detailed  for 
every  large  body  of  troops,  charged  solely  with  the 
specific  duty  of  raising  and  maintaining  morale  at  a 
high  level.  This  agent  should  be  on  the  watch  for  un- 
favorable rumors  and  refute  them;  he  should  note 
evidences  of  disappointment  and  trace  and  remove 
their  cause;  look  to  amusement,  occupation,  and  the 

175 


MORALE 

general  condition  of  every  group,  and  if  possible  of 
every  individual.  Each  regiment  should  have  its  se- 
lected local  agent  working  under  a  division  officer, 
each  company  commander  should  be  ex  offtcio  the 
morale  officer  for  his  company,  and  chaplains,  too, 
should  be  used  to  this  end.  To  be  effective  this  psy- 
chological stimulation  must  be  continuous,  varied, 
quick  to  act  against  depression,  whether  due  to 
enemy  propaganda,  bad  weather,  military  reverses, 
sickness,  deficient  supplies,  political  or  economic 
condition,  or  anything  else.  The  personnel  charged 
with  this  work  should  constantly  study  morale  and 
detect  everything  wrong  at  the  start  and  if  possible 
neutralize  it.  Its  influence  should  extend  not  merely 
to  the  United  States  forces  but  to  the  civilian  body. 
They  should  be  negative,  i.  e.,  to  impair  the  enemy's 
morale  or  fighting  spirit  ^  and  positive,  to  encourage 
our  men.  These  means,  too,  may  be  either  direct  and 
open  or  indirect,  e.  g.,  through  the  civil  population 
and  by  making  environment  more  favorable.  The 
duty  of  depressing  the  enemy's  civilian  psyche  is  the 
work  of  the  Bureau  of  Public  Information,  which  has 
done  many  things  in  many  ways.  All  hostile  and  de- 
pressing sentiment  must  be  controlled  and  neutral- 
ized, and  among  these  we  must  count  indifference, 
selfishness,  greed,  and  ignorance.  Besides  breaking 
the  enemy's  morale  by  making  the  war  itself  hard  for 
him,  psychologic  methods  should  be  used,  e.  g.}  printed 
matter  scattered  by  aviators,  use  of  the  neutral  press, 
special  instruction  of  exchange  prisoners,  etc.  In  all 

176 


SPECIFIC  MOKALE  FOR  THE  ARMY 

methods  of  direct  stimulation  publicity  is  necessary. 
The  American  thinks  and  does  not  take  kindly  to  un- 
due concealment  of  conditions.  He  is  unusually 
amenable  to  control  by  direct  appeal  to  his  reason 
and  justice,  and  he  should  be  given  every  opportunity 
to  think  and  follow  appeals  along  logical  lines.  He 
resents  being  led  blindfolded.  Thus  in  applying  the 
necessary  rules  of  censorship  care  must  be  taken  that 
the  human  interest,  which  is  the  mainspring  of  ser- 
vice, be  not  unduly  oppressed.  Everything  should  be 
made  public  which  is  not  detrimental  to  military  pur- 
poses. Information  of  what  others  in  the  service  are 
doing  and  appreciation  of  accomplishments  give  a 
sense  of  a  common  cause  and  braces  fortitude. 

The  plan  of  "Four-Minute.  Men"  molding  opinion 
by  brief  addresses  on  every  public  occasion  at  home 
should  extend  to  the  army,  speakers  to  which  should, 
if  possible,  be  enlisted  for  greater  unity  of  status  and 
thought.  The  ground  such  speakers  cover  should  be 
carefully  mapped  out  in  outline  by  experts.  There 
should  also  be  lectures  for  officers,  with  syllabi,  not 
limiting,  however,  the  freedom  of  the  lecturer,  and 
the  outlines  should  be  posted  and  copies  given  to 
every  officer  to  use  as  he  best  can  with  his  men.  Each 
officer  should  be  encouraged  to  give  simple  talks  on 
prescribed  topics  to  the  men  under  his  command.  Lo- 
cal publications,  like  camp  papers,  should  be  encour- 
aged, if  not  ordered,  and  there  should  be  a  central 
agency  connected  with  every  part  of  the  service  which 
should  furnish  papers  gratis  and  news  items,  and 

177 


MORALE 

stories  of  live,  patriotic  value.  The  psychologists  of 
the  Sanitary  Corps  should  also  prepare  brief  ad- 
dresses to  officers  on  the  best  way  to  control  the  men- 
tal attitudes  of  their  men,  on  discipline,  etc.  The 
psychological  attitude  of  the  German  soldier  should 
be  analyzed  and  interpreted ;  also  of  the  German  peo- 
ple. Song  writers  should  be  set  to  work  writing  pa- 
triotic and  well-chosen  verses  with  catchy  music,  and 
the  best  should  be  widely  distributed  by  the  govern- 
ment and  be  eventually  printed  in  an  official  song- 
book. 

The  work  of  the  Committee  on  Training  Camp  Ac- 
tivities is  of  the  greatest  psychological  value — amuse- 
ments, games,  recreations,  etc.  There  should  be 
high-class  plays  of  a  patriotic  nature  for  the  stage 
and  moving  pictures  written  under  government  direc- 
tion and  encouragement,  and  these  should  be  given 
wide  currency  among  troops,  both  amateurs  and  pro- 
fessionals. The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  should  give  more  movies 
of  this  nature  and  less  of  the  "trashy"  kind.  There 
should  be  select  movies  used  not  merely  for  instruc- 
tion purposes  but  as  psychic  stimuli  to  familiarize 
new  soldiers  with  the  scenes  of  war.  So  far  the 
General  Staff  has  used  movies  merely  to  teach  the 
perfection  of  physical  movement,  pictures,  too,  illus- 
trating the  ruthlessness  and  devastation  of  the  enemy, 
such  as  the  series  created  by  the  French  government 
entitled  "In  the  Wake  of  the  Huns." 

Religion  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  supports  of 
morale,  giving  mental  strength  in  adversity  and  confi- 

178 


dence  in  the  outcome  of  undertakings, as  history  abun- 
dantly shows,  and  this  agency  should  be  developed. 
The  German  belief  in  the  indivisibility  of  God  and 
the  Kaiser  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  mental  stead- 
fastness. Chaplains  should  be  systematically  util- 
ized in  psychic  stimulation,  and  their  services  should 
be  not  merely  religious  but  they  should  treat  of  the 
ethics  of  nations  and  individuals.  A  committee  of 
chaplains  should  suggest  suitable  Bible  texts  for  ser- 
mons and  outline  their  applications  to  existing  mili- 
tary and  political  conditions,  to  the  honor,  truth, 
faith,  and  mercy  for  which  this  country  stands  versus 
dishonor,  deceit,  and  cruelty.  They  should  prepare 
addresses  for  other  than  religious  days,  e.  g.,  Memori- 
al and  all  holidays.  The  best  outlines  should  be  pub- 
lished and  sent  to  all  chaplains  for  their  use,  and  the 
school  for  their  training  at  Fort  Monroe  furnishes 
a  convenient  agency  for  this  work. 

The  War  Department  should  take  up  morale  vig- 
orously and  without  ostentation.  The  best  results 
are  those  secured  by  means  not  toe  obvious.  There 
should  be  much  confidential  literature  and  yet  the 
general  press  should  be  furnished  with  everything 
that  soldiers  or  civilians  ought  to  know.  Such  train- 
ing in  morale  would  not  be  the  same  here  as  with  our 
troops  abroad,  but  it  ought  to  make  men  better  and 
more  indomitable  as  soldiers,  as  well  as  making  them 
eventually  better  citizens  and  Americans. 

By  way  of  realization  of  the  above  ideas  of  Briga- 
dier-General Munson,  Camp  Greenleaf  at  Fort  Ogle- 

179 


MOKALE 

thorpe,  Georgia,  had  already  been  established.  On 
May  31,  the  department  of  military  psychology  here 
submitted  by  request  a  detailed  program  to  the  com- 
mandant, which  was  adopted,  and  a  camp  morale  of- 
ficer was  appointed  to  develop  a  wholesome  mental 
attitude  toward  the  service  and  to  make  induction  to 
it  as  pleasant  and  profitable  as  possible.  To  this  end 
the  personnel  branch  was  utilized,  as  well  as  the  fa- 
cilities of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  K.  of  C.,  Jewish  Welfare 
Board,  and  the  various  committees  on  Training  Camp 
Activities. 

A  large  tent  was  erected  near  the  point  where  sol- 
diers arrived  and  departed.  An  assistant  morale  of- 
ficer, with  a  detachment  of  thirty-five  enlisted  men 
from  the  school  of  Military  Psychology,  was  detailed 
to  initiate  this  work,  with  the  idea  of  standardizing 
the  method  in  one  battalion  so  that  it  could  be  ap- 
plied to  other  sections  of  the  camp  and  adopted  as  a 
program  throughout  the  country.  After  a  trial  period 
of  several  weeks  the  following  scheme  was  adopted: 
(I)  The  intensive  phase  of  it  was  to  stimulate  the 
morale  of  the  recruit  from  detrainment  until  he  left 
this  camp  two  weeks  later;  (II)  the  extensive  phase 
pertained  to  this  later  development  elsewhere. 

I.  Under  this  plan  all  troop  trains  were  met  by  mo- 
rale officers,  who  encouraged  the  recruits  to  sing  and 
cheer  on  the  march  to  camp.  On  arrival  there  they 
were  instructed  by  the  morale  sergeant  in  their  pri- 
mary adjustments,  taught  how  to  make  their  beds,  and 
informed  as  to  the  location  of  mess  halls,  latrines, 

180 


SPECIFIC  MORALE  FOB  THE  ARMY 

and  wash-houses.  They  were  given  an  unusually  good 
first  meal  whatever  time  of  day  they  arrived.  A  bath 
was  part  of  the  immediate  program.  All  instruction 
was  given  in  the  spirit  of  friendly  counsel  rather 
than  by  the  method  of  trial  and  error.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  their  first  day  in  camp  all  were  rostered  by 
companies  and  led  to  the  information  tent,  which  was 
also  the  headquarters  of  the  morale  work,  where  they 
were  given  a  tag  bearing  the  inscription:  "You  are 
now  a  soldier  of  the  United  States,  a  soldier  selected 
by  your  country  to  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the  world. 
Walk  like  a  soldier.  Think  like  a  soldier.  Act  like 
a  soldier.  Be  a  soldier.  This  is  not  easy  to  do  at 
first,  and  there  may  be  things  that  you  do  not  under- 
stand. Never  mind.  All  good  soldiers  have  learned 
to  do  the  same  things  that  you  are  learning  to  do. 
Remember  you  follow  a  flag  that  has  never  led  in  ail 
unjust  war.  Remember  that  the  American  army  has 
never  yet  been  defeated.  Do  your  part  and  it  never 
can  be.  Keep  your  head  up,  your  eyes  open,  and 
smile."  On  the  reverse  side  of  this  tag  was  stamped 
the  recruit's  company  and  camp  address,  with  a  blank 
space  for  his  autograph,  so  that  it  served  the  double 
purpose  of  identification  and  inspiration. 

The  morale  sergeant  then  directed  the  recruits  to 
the  amphitheater  where  they  received  a  copy  of  the 
pamphlet  on  social  hygiene,  "Keeping  Fit  to  Fight," 
and  were  given  an  informal  talk  covering  the  nature 
of  a  detention  camp,  boundaries,  relation  to  a  per- 
manent organization,  reasons  for  detention,  assur- 

181 


MOKALE 

ance  against  contagious  diseases,  vaccination,  inocu- 
lation, venereal  diseases,  the  athletic  program, 
library,  "the  sick  sergeant,"  letter-writing,  clothing, 
food,  and,  discipline,  and  the  general  qualities  of  the 
soldier.  They  were  then  taught  a  lively  army  song, 
and  were  welcomed  by  the  chaplain,  who  in  a  short 
address  inculcated  the  duties  of  absolute  obedience, 
instructed  them  concerning  the  friendly  attitude  of 
officers,  told  of  the  aims  of  the  war,  of  the  character 
of  the  enemy,  dangers  of  homesickness,  etc. 

Then  each  was  conducted  to  a  suitable  place  in 
which  to  write  a  letter  home,  in  which  had  to  be  in- 
cluded the  following  letter  signed  by  the  battalion 
commander  and  addressed  to  the  friends  at  home. 
The  letter  was  as  follows : 

^ has  arrived  safely  at  this  camp.  He 

will  remain  here  for  some  time  getting  used  to 
army  life  and  learning  the  first  simple  things  that 
our  soldiers  must  know.  The  army  supplies  him 
with  clothing,  good  food,  comfortable  quarters,  and 
medical  attendance.  But  in  another  way  your  help 
is  desired.  Give  him  the  support  of  your  confidence 
and  cheer.  Write  to  him  often.  Getting  mail  is  a  big 
event  in  the  soldier's  day,  and  getting  none  is  a  real 
disappointment.  If  pleasant  things  happen  at  home, 
write  him  about  them.  If  you  are  proud  of  him,  tell 
him  so.  Let  Mm  know  that  you  are  "back  of  him. 
Don't  be  worried  if  your  first  letters  to  him  are  de- 
layed; this  is  bound  to  happen  sometimes.  Keep 
writing  just  the  same  and  we  will  see  that  he  gets  all 

182 


SPECIFIC  MORALE  FOR  THE  ARMY 

you  write,  even  if  it  takes  a  little  time.  Remember 
always  that  you,  too,  are  part  of  the  American  army 
— you  are  the  army  of  encouragement  and  enthusi- 
asm. Write  letters  filled  with  these  things  to  your 
soldier  and  you  will  help  us  to  help  him.  His  ad- 
dress is ." 

This  letter  served  a  double  purpose,  that  of  inform- 
ing the  people  at  home  of  the  safe  arrival  of  the  sol- 
dier and  of  enlisting  civilian  support.  Very  many 
replies  to  these  letters  were  received  by  the  battalion 
commander  which  show  their  great  value  as  a  stim- 
ulus of  civilian  morale  as  well  as  that  of  the  soldier. 

The  "sick  sergeant"  in  each  company  was  a  source 
of  general  information,  disseminating  notices  and 
programs,  leading  in  mass  athletics  and  singing,  and 
in  addition  taking  charge  of  the  mail  and  in  general 
doing  all  he  could  to  build  up  morale.  He  especially 
cared  for  sick-calls,  rest-periods,  and  evenings.  He 
organized  inter-company  games,  etc. 

As  to  entertainments,  there  were  many — vaude- 
ville, boxing,  wrestling,  band  and  other  concerts, 
mass  singing,  motion  pictures,  dramatics,  inspira- 
tional addresses,  war  talks,  and  talent  was  generally 
selected  from  the  soldiers  themselves,  the  morale  ser- 
geant always  being  on  the  lookout  for  any  kind  of  en- 
tertaining ability,  giving  the  recruits  try-outs,  and 
putting  those  who  excelled  on  larger  circuits.  These 
morale  sergeants  met  daily  to  discuss  problems,  re- 
port activities,  suggest  improvements,  etc.  On  de- 
parture from  the  detention  camp  the  soldiers  received 

183 


MOEALE 

a  brief  farewell  talk.  Here,  although  best  of  all  at 
Camp  Gordon,  special  efforts  were  made  to  instruct 
foreigners  in  English. 

In  France  each  division  had  its  morale  organiza- 
tion and  the  seventh,  especially,  had  what  was  called 
a  "welfare  officer."  Stress  was  laid  upon  evening  en- 
tertainments. Every  evening  there  was  one  lasting 
two  and  a  half  hours  under  the  direction  of  the  mo- 
rale organization,  while  many  more  local  ones  were 
given  in  the  huts  of  the  different  organizations. 

Religion  was  recognized  as  an  adjuvant  of  morale, 
but  this  was  generally  left  to  special  agents  of  the 
different  religious  bodies,  and  the  policy  of  the  of- 
ficers was  that  of  "Hands  Off."  All  in  all,  the  meth- 
ods inaugurated  at  Greenleaf,  according  to  one  esti- 
mate, raised  the  initial  morale  of  soldiers  some  30  per 
cent,  above  the  average,  but  such  things  are  of  course 
hard  to  estimate. 

II.  In  what  was  called  extensive  morale  represen- 
tatives of  all  agencies! — singing,  library  work,  the  Ked 
Cross,  entertainment,  athletics,  etc.,  got  together  and 
compared  notes  and  harmonized  their  methods  and 
ideals.  Special  attention  was  given  to  the  social  evil 
by  tracts  on  venereal  disease,  prostitution,  and  also 
on  alcohol,  as  this  work  is  represented  as  perhaps 
even  more  vital  than  any  other  for  morale.  Those 
capable  of  entertaining  were  relieved  from  afternoon 
duty  and  were  put  on  a  special  schedule,  and  im- 
provements in  their  specialty  were  suggested  and 
urged.  It  was  found  necessary  to  provide  not  only, 

184 


SPECIFIC  MORALE  FOR  THE  ARMY 

segregated  activities  of  all  these  sorts  but  special  of- 
ficers for  colored  troops.  Certain  films  were  tried  out 
and  found  so  much  more  effective  than  others  that  at- 
tempts were  made  to  standardize  them.  Information 
was  posted  on  bulletin  boards,  and  great  use  was 
made  of  posters,  cartoons,  mottoes,  and  slogans.  Spe- 
cial postal  cards  wrere  devised  with  inspirational 
illustrations  and  to  minimize  the  effort  of  writing 
home  at  least  every  two  weeks,  which  was  required, 
and  especially  when  informing  home  relatives 
promptly  of  every  change  in  address.  A  question- 
naire was  addressed  to  15,000  men  asking  each  to 
specify  grievances,  disappointments,  improvements, 
etc.,  whether  he  looked  to  the  future  with  confidence 
or  dread,  and  who,  if  anyone,  or  what  had  hindered 
or  helped  his  development  as  a  good  soldier.  The  re- 
sults of  this  are  not  yet  accessible.1 

The  civilized  world  has  more  and  more  felt  the 
need  of  morale  education,  and  many  very  diverse 
schemes  to  that  end  have  been  devised.2  But  there 
are  still  many  who  doubt  with  Socrates  whether  vir- 
tue can  really  be  taught.  No  one  who  has  studied 
the  Greenleaf  scheme  can  doubt  that  morale,  which  is 
a  somewhat  different  thing,  can  be  inculcated.  If  all 
the  ideals  of  that  camp  were  realized,  as  they  might 

1  In  the  above  characterization  I  have  been  materially  aided  by 
the  informal  report  of  this  work  made  out  for  me  by  Mr.  H.  D. 
Fryer,  who  supplied  me  with  various  typewritten  but  as  yet  un- 
printed  memoranda  and  circulars,  including  the  Yerkes  report  of 
July,  1918,  and  pamphlets,  the  special  publications  of  the  American 
Social  Hygiene  Association,  etc. 

3  See  a  description  of  these  many  methods  in  my  Educational 
Problems,  i,  Chapter  5. 

185 


MORALE 

have  been  if  the  war  had  lasted  longer  and  these 
schemes  had  been  more  evolved,  the  world  would  have 
had  here  an  object  lesson  of  the  highest  value.  Had 
this  work  been  finished,  it  would  have  greatly  reduced 
the  pathetic  abatement  of  individual  and  army  mo- 
rale all  the  way  from  the  soldier's  induction  into 
service  to  his  home-coming,  discharge,  and  his  ree'n- 
listment  in  work.  As  it  was,  each  of  these  stages,  al- 
though much  was  done  to  counteract  this  tendency, 
marked  a  decline  of  morale.  Here  we  could  have 
learned  many  lessons  from  England  if  we  had  chosen 
to,  but  if  another  war  ever  comes  we  shall  do  vastly 
better.  All  in  all,  the  story  of  what  was  done  at 
Greenleaf  for  those  who  passed  through  its  two  weeks' 
course,  each  day  of  which  was  minutely  scheduled 
even  to  the  menus  of  each  of  its  meals,  has  not  only 
its  inspiration  but  its  lessons  for  civilian  industrial 
and  educational  life.  Every  business  concern  should 
have,  along  with  its  psychological  testers  and  the 
evaluation  of  its  industrial  efficiency,  its  morale  spe- 
cialists, and  so  should  educational  institutions;  and 
possibly  sometime  each  political  party,  each  trade, 
each  social  organization,  and  perhaps  each  church  to 
develop  its  own  esprit  de  corps  and  to  keep  it  at  the 
top  of  its  condition,  as  chivalry  and  the  medieval 
guilds  did  so  well.  We  need  to  realize  anew  and 
more  and  more  clearly  that  the  ultimate  human  value 
of  every  occupation  and  institution  is  what  it  con- 
tributes to  develop  and  sustain  personal  and  general 
morale,  and  that  the  effectiveness  with  which  they  do 

186 


SPECIFIC  MORALE  FOE  THE  ARMY 

this  is  the  standpoint  from  which  every  other  aim  and 
achievement  and  even  production  itself  is  a  by-pro- 
duct. Even  the  war  was,  on  the  whole,  a  good  or  bad 
thing  for  the  world  as  it  advanced  or  lessened  the 
morale  of  the  nations  that  had  a  part  in  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 


MORALE  AND  REHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED.1 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  maimed  soldier  and  how  it  has  been  met— 
The  marvelous  work  of  the  surgeon — The  persuader— What  is 
done  in  the  various  countries  to  restore  the  soldier  to  efficiency 
and  settle  him  in  a  vocation — Success  here  second  to  no  other 
triumph  of  morale. 

If  the  average  sound  soldier  felt  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was  sent  off  to 
the  war  and  the  acclaim  with  which  he  was  welcomed 
home  again  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  cooler  and  more 
discriminating  spirit  that  he  found  on  reentering  in- 

*The  chief  journals  devoted  to  rehabilitation  are  (a)  In  England, 
Recalled  to  Life:  A  Journal  Devoted  to  the  Care,  Reeducation,  and 
Return  to  Civil  Life  of  Disabled  Soldiers  and  Sailors  (first  No.,  June, 
1917)  and  Reveille,  began  in  August,  1918.  (b)  In  this  country  the 
Surgeon-General's  office  in  January,  1918,  began  publishing  typewrit- 
ten bulletins  on  recent  literature  on  reconstruction  and  reeducation 
which  in  the  following  June  was  continued  in  the  journal,  Carry  On. 
Our  government  has  also  issued  a  special  series  of  bulletins  (No.  30 
appeared  in  April,  1919)  on  different  aspects  of  this  work.  See,  too, 
E.  T.  Devine's  Carnegie  report  on  Disabled  Soldiers  and  Sailors 
Pensions  and  Training  (N.  Y.,  1919).  The  Red  Cross  has  published 
two  series  of  pamphlets  on  various  aspects  of  the  subject,  (c)  In 
France  we  have  Larousse  Medical  since  1917  (copiously  illustrated), 
(d)  In  Germany  we  have  Kriegsinvalidenfiirsorge  since  1916. 

Besides  this  serial  material  there  is  a  literature  on  the  subject 
far  too  voluminous  to  cite.  See  Dr.  R.  F.  Fox's  Physical  Remedies 
for  Disabled  Soldiers  (London,  1917) ;  A.  Broca  and  Ducroquet's  Ar- 
tificial Limbs.  Tr.  by  R.  C.  Elmslie  (London,  1918)  ;  R.  T.  MacKen- 
zie's  Reclaiming  the  Maimed  (N.  Y.,  1919) ;  G.  Harris'  Redemption 
of  the  Disabled  (N.  Y..  Appleton,  1919) ;  D.  C.  McMurtrie's  The  Dis- 
abled Soldier  (N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1919)  ;  H.  C.  Marr's  Psychoses  of  the 
War  (London,  Bailliere,  1919)  ;  also  The  Physiology  of  Industrial 
Organization,  by  J.  Amar.  (Paris,  1917).  In  this  and  subsequent  pub- 
lications the  author  was  one  of  the  first  to  try  to  analyze  the  move- 
ments in  occupations  and  their  relations  to  physiological  principles. 
For  a  single  sot  of  articles  I  find  nothing  better  than  that  of  Thomas 
Gregory's  in  World's  Work  (Aug.,  1918.) 

188 


EEHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED 

dustrial  life  on  the  other,  this  contrast  was  far 
sharper  for  the  wounded.  True,  employers  in  some 
firms  at  first  discriminated  in  favor  of  the  wounded 
soldier,  but  this  spirit  always  and  everywhere  tends 
to  yield  sooner  or  later  to  that  of  efficiency,  which 
can  afford  to  pay  a  man  for  only  the  services  he  is 
actually  able  to  render.  Some  enthusiastic  girls,  also, 
hospital  and  Ked  Cross  nurses,  married  the  maimed 
and  even  accepted  "baskets"  (a  gruesome  army  slang 
word  for  those  who  have  lost  all  four  limbs)  as  hus- 
bands, but  this  pitch  of  fervor  was  rare  and  also  tran- 
sient, for  pity  and  love  cannot  long  be  confounded. 
Thus  the  returned  soldier  who  is  seriously  mutilated 
or  invalided,  of  which  the  war  has  produced  several 
millions,  is  in  fact  in  a  pathetic  condition.  The 
possibility  of  having  to  exhibit  his  mutilations  on  the 
street  and  begging  from  passers-by  is  something  the 
self-respecting  veteran,  who  has  heard  wounds  suf- 
fered in  his  country's  service  called  glorious,  feels  to 
be  as  bitter  as  death  itself,  and  it  is  a  shame  for  any 
country  to  permit  it,  as  many  often  have  in  the  past, 
sometimes  even  to  those  to  whom  it  has  given  pen- 
sions. Very  careful  examinations  of  the  discharged 
were  wisely  planned  to  prevent  unjustifiable  claims 
for  after-effects  of  the  war,  which  are  often  such  a 
burden  and  were  so  especially  after  our  Civil  War, 
when  for  many  years  the  total  pension  budget  in- 
creased inversely  as  the  number  of  survivors. 

In  the  first  place,  the  maimed  man  generally  has 
his  physical  vitality  and  vigor  more  or  less  reduced, 

189 


and  perhaps  his  mental  tone  is  lowered ;  hence  he  has 
less  courage  in  facing  life  than  before.  Again,  the 
very  members  most  essential  in  his  occupation  may 
be  gone  or  incapacitated  so  that  he  must  start  all 
over  again  in  a  new  line  of  work,  and  this  is  more 
discouraging  for  the  skilled  craftsman  than  for  the 
unskilled  laborer.  Finally,  many  wounds  so  disfig- 
ure the  body  and  even  the  face  that  the  victim  shrinks 
from  being  seen,  and  he  may  be  a  painful  object  even 
to  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him.  Thus  he  tends 
to  feel  himself  useless  and  dependent,  his  pride  is 
galled,  and  he  may  despair,  although  he  rarely  com- 
mits suicide.  He  more  often  grows  suspicious  that 
his  disfigurement  has  abated  love  of  wife,  children, 
and  friends,  that  their  devotions  are  from  a  sense  of 
duty  and  perhaps  performed  with  inner  repugnance. 
Sometimes  instinct  inclines  him  to  compensate  for 
these  feelings  by  arrogance  and  domineering  au- 
thority to  compel  what  he  fears  love  falters  in  doing. 
Who  save  those  who  have  suffered  thus  can  conceive 
the  inner  tortures  of  an  athlete  suddenly  made  a 
cripple  for  life  or  of  an  attractive  face  made  ugly  and 
repellent,  suggesting  in  some  cases  a  disposition  the 
very  opposite  of  that  which  really  exists. 

Again,it  is  not  surprising  that  the  seriously  wound- 
ed soldier  should  thus  gravitate  more  or  less  strongly, 
according  to  circumstances  and  disposition,  toward  a 
state  of  mind  in  which  the  typical  case  feels  that  he 
has  made  unwonted  sacrifices  for  his  country,  which 
should  henceforth  care  for  him,  and  also  perhaps  that 

190 


REHABILITATION  OP  THE  WOUNDED 

his  friends  and  family  should  very  gladly  serve  him. 
His  exceptional  sacrifices  demand  exceptional  recog- 
nition and  reward.  If  it  is  glorious  to  die  for  one's 
country,  it  is  hardly  less  but  more  glorious  to  be  mu- 
tilated in  its  service.  He  is  at  least  more  heroic  than 
those  who  came  through  without  scathe.  He  has 
"done  his  bit  and  got  his  hit"  and  now  the  nation  he 
has  helped  to  save  owes  him  a  comfortable  living. 
This  obligation  was  almost  implied  in  the  sentiment 
with  which  he  was  sent  off  to  the  front,  and  he  feels 
neglected  and  deems  the  world  ungrateful.  At  the 
institutions  for  convalescents  ( e.  g.,  the  Walter  Reed 
and  other  such  hospitals)  the  persuaders  and  en- 
couragers  found,  this  attitude  not  at  all  uncommon 
and  one  of  the  very  hardest  to  meet  or  modify.  This 
state  of  mind  was,  of  course,  more  common  among 
those  who  enlisted  under  the  allurements  of  our  meth- 
ods of  recruiting  volunteers  but  has  been  only  less 
frequent  among  those  drafted.  It  may  make  men  pes- 
simistic but  it  rarely  goes  so  far  as  to  make  them  con- 
scious parasites,  though  it  may  make  them  enemies 
of  even  our  industrial  society. 

Now  it  is  just  these  two  classes  of  cases  which 
illustrate  the  most  utter  debacle  of  morale.  But  it  is 
also  upon  some  of  these  that  morale  has  wrought  its 
most  marvelous  regenerations,  for  both  the  despair  of 
the  first  and  the  cynicism  of  the  latter  class  have 
been  triumphantly  overcome,  although  we  must 
frankly  admit  that  there  have  been  some  of  both  who 
resisted  all  cure. 

191 


MOKALE 

First  of  all  the  agencies  of  rehabilitation  comes 
surgery  with  its  now  marvelous  arsenal  of  ever  new, 
more  refined  and  effective  methods,  which  have  made 
it  such  a  power  for  morale  as  well  as  for  physical  sal- 
vage. The  soldier  is  young,  in  good  condition,  rarely 
suffers  from  operative  phobia,  and  in  general  makes 
a  good  patient.  Many  are  at  first  reconciled  to  dis- 
ablement because  it  means  a  furlough  or  perhaps 
"blighty"  for  good,  and  are  grateful  to  fate  because 
it  is  better  at  least  than  "going  West,"  a  spirit  that 
may,  though  happily  rarely  does,  culminate  in  malin- 
gering, magnifying  symptoms,  and  possibly  in  self- 
inflicted  wounds;  while  a  few  heroic  souls  chafe  under 
everything  that  interferes  with  getting  back  into  the 
fray. 

Men  with  faces  shattered  ("gargoyles"  or  Cali- 
bans) are  given,  e.  g.,  new  noses  made  out  of  perhaps 
their  own  rib-bone  covered  by  a  flap  or  two  of  skin 
from  a  part  of  the  face  that  can  be  later  covered  by  a 
false  beard.  An  artificial  jaw  may  be  fitted  by  the 
aid  of  a  plaster  cast  with  paraffin,  or  a  new  and  care- 
fully molded  cheek  is  made  to  conform  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  photograph  of  the  patient  before  his 
injury,  and  these  and  even  ears  are  usually  supported 
in  some  way  by  glasses.  When  we  read  not  only  of 
plastic  surgery  but  of  the  grafting  of  glands  and  the 
substitution  of  parts  and  organs  in  the  living  man 
by  those  taken  from  animals  and  even  cadavers,  we 
wonder  whether,  along  the  line  of  these  methods,  life 
may.  not  sometime  be  rejuvenated,  and  we  think  of 

192 


iBEHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED 

bold  and  clever  romances  like  "The  Heart  of  Don 
Vega,"  whose  old  heart  was  physically  replaced  by  a 
new  one,  with  a  change  of  disposition ;  or  of  the  clever 
story  by  an  anonymous  author  of  the  man  who  had  a 
new  brain.  Skull  disfigurements  are  cleverly  dis- 
guised, and  not  only  eyes  and  teeth  but  ears  are  re- 
placed by  artificial  ones,  and  all  these  facial  surger- 
ies restore  those  who  would  otherwise  be  isolated 
from  the  commerce  of  life.  As  to  limbs,  there  is  a  far 
less  percentage  of  amputations  than  ever  before,  not 
only  of  feet  and  legs,  which  are  far  more  often  wound- 
ed and  more  often  require  this  treatment  than  do 
hands  and  arms,  but  even  the  latter  can  be  replaced 
by  extremely  ingenious  devices  so  intricate  that  only 
long  practice  gives  skill  enough  to  bring  out  all  their 
possibilities.  Some  of  these  artificial  limbs  are  stand- 
ardized but  others  have  been  evolved  by  individuals, 
with  fingers  working  by  springs  released  by  rolling 
balls  held  in  grooves,  which  with  sufficient  skill  can 
perform  very  many  of  the  functions  of  the  normal 
hand.2  With  various  sockets  and  inserts  very  many 
different  things  can  be  done  and  tools,  perhaps  modi- 
fied, can  be  used,  and  not  a  few  patients  have  invented 
ingenious  devices  to  meet  their  own  type  of  need. 
Not  only  tools  but  sometimes  industrial  processes 
have  been  modified,  and  this  was  done  before  the  ar- 
mistice in  more  than  four-score  occupations,  which 

a  P.  Martinier  and  G.  Lemerle:  Injuries  of  the  Face  and  Jaw  and 
Their  Repair,  Lond.,  Bailli&re,  1917 ;  and  G.  Seccombe  Hett :  Meth- 
ods of  Repair  of  Wounds  of  the  TSlose  and  ~Nasal  Accessory  Sinuses 
Proc.  Royal  Soc.  of  Med.,  XII,  No.  8,  July,  1919. 

193 


MORALE 

have  been  thus  fitted  to  the  maimed  as  they  have 
been  to  these  callings.  Some  cripples  before  as  well 
as  those  made  by  the  war  have  become  prodigies  of 
rehabilitation,  like  L.  Simms  (Outlook,  September 
11,  1918)  who  at  six  lost  both  hands  by  amputation 
midway  between  the  wrist  and  elbow,  but  went 
through  Oberlin  College,  became  superintendent  of 
schools,  and  tells  us  that  he  can  thread  a  needle  and 
sew,  use  the  typewriter  and  piano,  shave,  shoot,  write, 
dress  and  undress,  etc.  We  have  also  the  noted  case 
of  M.  J.  Dowling,  who  some  thirty-six  years  ago  had 
hands  and  feet  frozen  off  in  a  Minnesota  blizzard,  and 
is  now  a  bank  president  and  director  of  various  insti- 
tutions. Such  men  are  a  splendid  object  lesson  to 
the  maimed  and  are  brought  as  examples  of  courage 
and  perseverance  to  hospitals  for  war  cripples.  Four- 
teen of  these  "encouragers"  have  been  brought  to  this 
country  from  France. 

But  it  is  when  surgery  and  mechanical  devices 
have  done  their  best  that  the  higher  work  of  morale 
for  these  cases  really  begins.  There  was  often, 
especially  in  England,  a  very  persistent  idea  that  if 
the  crippled  learned  to  earn,  his  pension  might  be 
diminished,  and  even  effective  legislation  to  prevent 
this  did  not  entirely  obviate  the  need  of  personal  per- 
suasion and  counter-assurance.  When  a  new  occupa- 
tion must  be  chosen,  it  should  be  as  near  the  old  one 
as  possible,  and  thus  choice  requires  much  discrim- 
ination and  a  wise  adviser  can  here  often  be  of  great 
help. 

194 


First  of  all,  the  subject  must  realize  that,  as 
Gregory  puts  it,  when  a  man  loses  his  leg  it  affects 
his  thinking  perhaps  even  more  than  it  does  his  walk- 
ing for  he  is  liable  to  lose  his  nerve,  at  least  for  a 
time.  Rehabilitation  is  hardly  more  a  question  of 
arms,  legs,  and  eyesight  than  it  is  of  point  of  view 
of  the  cripple  himself  and  also  that  of  his  friends 
and  of  the  public.  He  must  not  be  cobbled  up,  pen- 
sioned, and  turned  loose  to  become  a  tramp  or  ped- 
dler of  shoestrings  or  pencils,  as  was  too  often  the 
case  after  our  Civil  War,  nor  merely  given  an 
official  job  by  the  government,  as  was  the  case  in 
Germany  and  France  after  the  War  of  1870.  He  is 
handicapped  but  not  done  for.  Our  half  million 
cripples  not  only  in  the  hospital  but  in  the  curative 
workshop,  one  of  which  was  attached  to  every  army 
corps,  must  develop  new  ambitions  and  aims.  The 
mind  must  be  focused  on  the  object  as  a  product 
and  not  on  the  process  of  making  it.  He  must  come 
to  think  of  himself  not  as  marred  but  of  what  he  can 
do.  He  should  be  given  occupations  even  in  bed, 
where  he  is  liable  to  form  habits  of  moping,  drifting, 
and  being  waited  on.  It  is  in  work  that  brings  re- 
sults and  awakens  interest,  so  that  stiff  joints  slow- 
ly grow  flexible  and  strength  increases,  that  the 
value  lies,  and  when  these  increments  are  measured 
by  the  protractor  and  dynamometer,  even  if  the  res- 
toration is  slow  it  gives  buoyancy  instead  of  depres- 
sion. This  result  is,  however,  often  best  if  disre- 
garded and  left  one  side  as  a  by-product.  A  man 

195 


MOKALE 

tired  with  working  a  foot- treadle,  e.  g.,  designed  only 
to  restore  the  lost  power  of  movement  in  the  leg,  if 
put  to  fret-work  on  a  jigsaw  finds  his  rate  of  im- 
provement in  leg  power  augmented.  The  notion  of 
his  helplessness  must  be  stamped  out. 

Our  government  and  others  have  made  very  in- 
teresting collections  of  stories  of  men  who  have  en- 
countered such  handicaps,  and  it  has  many  movies 
showing  cripples  engaged  in  not  only  many  kinds 
of  occupations  but  in  a  great  variety  of  games ;  while 
there  is  a  long  list  of  devices  and  inventions,  some 
petty  and  individual  and  some  of  great  and  general 
significance,  made  by  cripples  not  only  to  help  them- 
selves but  for  the  benefit  of  their  comrades  in  mis- 
fortune. Besides  this  wonderful  collection  there  is 
in  the  Surgeon-General's  office  an  illustrated  book 
made  up  of  the  life  histories  of  cripples  who  have 
succeeded,  a  copy  of  which  is  now  accessible  to  every 
disabled  soldier  or  sailor.  It  was  also  designed  to 
help  the  "cheer-up"  squad,  for  these  "twice  heroes" 
show  what  grit  and  pluck  can  do. 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  cripples,  as  Gregory  so 
well  puts  it,  thus  needs  great  attention.  Patriotic 
hysteria  in  the  first  year  of  the  war  so  glorified  the 
wounded  soldier  that  the  police  hesitated  to  arrest 
him  for  almost  any  excess.  In  France  many  at  first 
became  habitual  drunkards,  and  here  only  four  per 
cent  were  willing  to  go  back  to  their  old  jobs  as 
wage-earners.  Coddling,  overadulation,  and  hospital- 
itis,  which  result  from  long  being  served  and  doing 

196 


REHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED 

nothing,  well  illustrate  how  mistaken  treatment  de- 
nothing,  well  illsutrate  how  mistaken  treatment  de- 
stroys morale.  The  nation's  gratitude  must  not  spoil 
its  heroes,  and  even  their  friends  must  expect  them 
to  play  men's  parts  and  not  lapse  toward  the  plane 
of  pauperism.  Then  after  this  first  flush  of  en- 
thusiasm came  the  era  of  preferential  employment. 
Pennsylvania,  e.  g.,  alone  provided  industrial  posi- 
tions for  42,111  American  disabled  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, and  in  France  there  was  the  same  process  of 
spoiling  by  unwise  solicitude,  followed  by  a  new 
regime.  But  this  stage  quickly  passed.  Employers  are 
patriotic  but  they  cannot  long  be  expected  to  engage 
these  men  unless  it  is  a  sound  business  proposition. 
Some  ten  per  cent  of  the  four  thousand  members  of 
our  National  Association  of  Manufacturers  agreed  to 
employ  disabled  men,  but  there  were  ever  more  dis- 
criminations. Thus  the  war  cripple  must  eventually 
succeed  or  fail  according  to  the  worth  of  the  service  he 
can  render. 

Countries  differ  greatly  in  their  programs  all  the 
way  from  .where  the  surgeon  leaves  the  soldier 
through  his  complete  reeducation  and  industrial  re- 
habilitation in  society.  The  Gorgas  conference  in 
January,  1918,  drew  up  an  excellent  plan  and  bill 
which  Congressional  politics  killed.  Of  all  countries 
Canada  has  Ijy  general  consent  done  best.  Some 
would  have  the  individual  not  discharged  from  the 
army  but  kept  under  military  control  until  he  is 
self-supporting  or  at  least  has  reached  his  maximum 
of  efficiency.  This  plan,  however,  has  nowhere  been 

197 


MOKALE 

adopted  save  in  Belgium,  and  there  for  the  most  part 
with  only  skilled  laborers,  because  it  is  deemed  an 
unwarrantable  interference  with  personal  liberty, 
and  also  because  to  realize  the  best  that  is  in  an  in- 
dividual his  own  interest  must  be  a  source  of  chief 
appeal.  In  the  Red  Cross  Institution  in  New  York 
City,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Millbank  gift,  vo- 
cational teachers  have  been  given  courses  on  the  in- 
dustrial needs.  In  France  the  most  remarkable  in- 
stitution is  L'Ecole  Joffre.  It  was  founded  at  Char- 
leroi  by  M.  Anzer  Besaque,  and  when  the  Germans 
destroyed  it,  he  drifted  to  Lyons,  where  he  met  the 
famous  mayor,  Herriot,  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
figures  in  France.  Here  it  was  that  the  above-named 
school  developed.  In  France  reeducation  was  main- 
ly under  military  discipline,  with  a  view  to  the  sol- 
dier's return  to  the  army,  and  industrial  training 
there  is  voluntary.  In  Great  Britain  men  are  dis- 
charged too  soon  and  too  much  liberty  is  given  to 
break  off  training  if  it  becomes  irksome.  In  Queen 
Mary's  convalescent  hospital  are  concentrated  all  the 
artificial  limbs,  and  here  men  go  after  amputation. 
The  Queen  gave  the  workshop,  where  each  patient  is 
given  a  leaflet  describing  the  courses  so  that  he  may 
choose  wisely.  Although  only  the  beginnings  are 
taught  here,  the  soldier's  mind  is  taken  off  his  in- 
juries and  he  lives  in  an  atmosphere  of  usefulness. 
When  he  acquires  his  limb,  he  goes  to  Eoehampton, 
where  he  is  given  more  leaflets,  listens  to  lectures,  is 
given  advice,  etc.  Sir  Arthur  Pearson,  himself  blind, 

198 


REHABILITATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED 

has  provided  for  blind  soldiers.  St.  Dunstan's,  given 
by  Otto  Kahn  of  New  York,  has  several  annexes. 
This  institution  to-day  represents  the  very  last  and 
best  thing  that  civilization  can  yet  do  for  the  blind. 
The  Lord  Roberts'  Memorial  Workshop,  opened  just 
after  the  South  African  war,  has  set  the  fashion  for 
half  a  dozen  others.  Then,  too,  soldiers  are  en- 
couraged to  settle  on  land.  There  are  innumerable 
smaller  efforts  by  philanthropic  individuals  and  or- 
ganizations. Since  May,  1917,  and  the  Interallied 
Conference,  the  allied  nations  have  united  to  make 
this  work  more  effective. 

Physical,  mental,  and  moral  therapy  go  hand  in 
hand.  Medical  electrotherapy,  X-rays,  douches, 
massage,  hydrotherapy,  light,  artificial  air-currents, 
plays  and  games,  occupations  as  treatment,  scores  of 
appliances,  some  suggested  by  the  Zander  apparatus, 
and  testing  and  measuring  every  degree  of  improve- 
ment, protractors,  e.  g.,  to  test  foot-drop,  ab-  and  ad- 
duction, pro-  and  supination,  etc. — all  these  show  the 
singular  ingenuity  which  physical  therapy  'has  de- 
veloped in  meeting  the  emergencies  of  war  and  in 
adapting  everything  to  the  vast  variety  of  individual 
cases.  Now  the  same  is  true  with  the  war  psychas- 
thenias.  Horrible  recurrent  dreams,  e.  g.,  may  be 
banished  by  painting  or  by  narrating  them.3  A  pho- 
bia can  be  abated  by  tracing  it  to  its  roots  in  an  ex- 
perience of  childhood;  mental  vacuity  and  helpless- 
fiess  by  successfully  prospecting  through  the  pa- 

1  See  H.  C.  Marr:  The  Psychoses  of  the  War,  60  et  seq.,  Lond., 
Frowde,  1919. 

199 


MOKALE 

tieut's  life  and  mind  for  something  that  profoundly 
affects  his  personality.  In  some  cases  it  is  necessary 
to  go  back  to  and  repeat  school-room  topics  and 
methods,  perhaps  even  in  more  simple  form  than  in 
the  school  itself,  and  thus  to  build  up  a  new  personal- 
ity. Often  the  psychotherapist  finds  it  very  hard  to 
discover  a  point  of  interest  vital  enough  to  start 
from.  Each  day  in  the  process  of  analysis  presents 
new  problems  which  must  be  met  by  new  methods. 
In  the  more  purely  morale  cases  the  chief  task  is  to 
find  or  make  a  motive  and  a  goal  for  rehabilitation 
not  only  in  making  the  patient  feel  that  life  and  his 
efforts  are  worth  while  but  in  giving  him  the  most 
indispensable  preparedness  for  his  new  life,  viz., 
hope  and  confidence.  The  example  of  those  who 
have  best  overcome  most  of  the  obstacles  due  to  dis- 
ablement is  one  of  the  most  precious  of  all  the  moral 
inspirations  of  the  war  and  should  be  spread  before 
the  young  in  all  lands,  beside  the  story  of  great  men 
who  rose  from  obscurity  and  by  dint  of  their  own 
efforts  have  impressed  themselves  upon  history,  and 
also  along  with  the  record  of  the  most  heroic  war 
martyrs  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  in  order  that  youth 
may  be  heartened  in  fighting  its  way  to  success.  A 
man  who  has  been  shattered  in  body  and  mind  and 
nevertheless  succeeds  in  making  good,  despite  his  in- 
firmities and  in  face  of  the  many  subtle  temptations 
within  and  without  to  be  a  laggard,  is  a  true  hero 
of  morale,  of  whose  life  even  a  nation  seeking  reha- 
bilitation from  the  ravages  of  war  should  take  heed. 

200 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    LABOR    PROBLEM 

The  necessity  of  studying  and  realizing  the  fundamental  needs  of 
Labor  everywhere  for  food,  domestic  life,  ownership,  recreation, 
work,  intellectual  activity,  and  association  with  fellow-men — The 
power  of  Labor  to  reconstruct  the  world  not  realized  by  Capital. 

Since  the  Industrial  Revolution  and  the  unhappy 
antagonism  of  Capital  and  Labor,  with  at  first  the 
former  and  now,  especially  during  and  since  the  war, 
the  latter  tending  to  subordinate  the  other,  the  world 
has  entered  upon  a  new  era,  and.  a  new  and  higher 
morale  here,  too,  is  imperative,  and  industrial  prac- 
tice, legislation,  and  public  opinion  must  take  new, 
cues  from  the  Zeitgeist.  We  must  realize  that  in  all 
lines  of  production  labor  is  no  longer  a  commodity, 
but  a  partner  and  must  be  accepted  sympathetically 
as  an  intelligent  cooperator,  and  that  the  long,  sad 
history  of  sweating,  strikes,  riots,  sabotage,  injunc- 
tions, and  the  rest,  represent  a  dark-age  period  that 
we  must  emerge  from  and  which  has  not  been  credit- 
able to  our  insight  into  the  fundamental  laws  of  hu- 

i 

man  nature. 

Industry  is  the  chief  trait  of  our  nation  and.  of 
our  age.  One  estimate  is  that  it  now  absorbs  nine- 
tenths  of  all  human  ability,  mental  and  physical. 
Moreover,  business  and  its  methods  and  interests 
more  and  more  dominate  politics,  education,  science, 

201 


MORALE 

and,  in  a  sense,  also  religion.  It  makes  war  or  peace, 
prosperity  or  decline.  It  is  economic  interests  that 
will  eventually  find  or  make  a  way  of  adjusting  the 
claims  of  the  superman  versus  Bolshevism,  of  capital 
versus  labor,  and  of  the  classes  versus  the  masses 
generally.  To  this  system  the  morale  of  the  work- 
man is  no  less  important  than  that  of  the  soldier  in 
the  war.  Not  only  his  physical  but  his  mental  con- 
dition is  all-determining.  It  is  here,  therefore,  that 
we  must  reconsider  basal  human  impulses,  often 
more  unconscious  than  conscious,  and  inventory  and 
grade  the  main  determining  tendencies  that  consti- 
tute the  normal  motives  of  man's  behavior,  the 
thwarting  of  which  makes  most  of  the  troubles  in  in- 
dividual, social,  and  economic  life.  These  play  a  role 
in  industry  as  fundamental  as  the  categories  have 
in  the  history  of  philosophic  thought,  and  we  must 
seek  them  where  Aristotle  found  his,  viz.,  in  the 
market  place,  rather  than  by  psychological  analysis. 
They  are  not  simple  but  genetic  and  elemental  and  in- 
stinctive, and  we  shall  find  far  more  help  from 
writers  like  Carleton  Parker1  and  Ordway  Tead2 
than  from  the  more  scientifically  psychologic  writ- 

1  Motives  in  Economic  Life.  Amer.  Econ.  Rev.  Sup.  March,  1918, 
and  The  I.  W.  W.  Atlan.,  Nov.,  1917. 

'Instincts  in  Industry.  A  Study  of  Working-Class  Psychology. 
232,  Bost.,  1918. 

*  Supplemented,  perhaps,  by  writers  like  Glenn  Frank  and  R.  W. 
Bruere ;  Spargo  (Americanism  and  Social  Democracy,  N.  Y.,  Harper, 
1918) ;  A.  Henderson  (Aims  of  Labor,  N.  Y.,  Huebsch,  1919) ;  Boyd 
Fisher  (Industrial  Loyalty,  Lond.,  1918) ;  P.  S.  Grant  (Fair  Play  for 
the  Worker);  Meyer  Bloomfield  (Management  and  Men,  N.  Y.,  Cen- 
tury, 1919) ;  W.  L.  MacKenzie  King  (Industry  and  Humanity,  N.  Y., 
Houghton,  Mifflin,  1918) ;  E.  E.  Schoonmaker  (The  World  Storm  and 
Beyond,  N.  Y.,  Century,  1915). 

202 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

ings  of  McDougall,  Thorndike,  Shand,  or  from  char- 
acterology  generally.  The  more  important  of  these 
human  impulses  and  needs  may  be  tabbed  off  as 
follows : — 

1.  Food.  When  this  is  abundant  and  fit,  men 
tend  to  be  contented;  and  when  it  is  scanty  or  ill- 
adapted  to  their  nutritive  needs  they  become  uneasy, 
restless,  and  seize  upon  anything  however  untoward 
to  objectify  and  justify  their  discontent.  The  Paw- 
low  philosophy  has  given  us  a  vastly  broader  basis 
for  realizing  the  importance  of  this  factor  of  human 
well-being.  Studies  of  the  "conditioned  reflex"  suggest 
to  us  what  the  very  position  of  the  senses  near  the 
entrance  to  the  alimentary  canal  (because  all  of  them 
were  originally  food-finders  and  testers)  long  taught 
in  biology,  that  a  large  part  of  not  only  animal  but 
of  human  activity  consists  in  the  quest  for  and  pro- 
vision of  adequate  food  supply.  Fasting  and  incipient 
starvation  have  motivated  the  great  migrations  of 
animals  and  men,  and  the  home  and  hearth  lose  much 
of  their  attraction  if  the  table  there  spread  is  not 
adapted  to  make  for  growth  or  restoration  of  tissue 
lost  by  activity.  Hence  the  well-known  significance 
of  all  sumptuary  laws  and  regulations.  Now,  too, 
tnatv  prohibition  has  removed  the  long-accustomed 
physiological  reinforcement  that  drink  once  gave, 
which  also  made  men  more  content  with  inadequate 
fare,  we  cannot  doubt  that  we  have  here  a  source 
of  aggravation  to  present  discontent;  while  the 
scanty  food  allowance  which  the  war  necessitated  in 

203 


MOKALE 

European  lands  has  had  a  no  less  profound  effect 
on  the  morale  of  these  peoples.  The  prime  need, 
then,  not  only  of  labor  but  of  mankind  generally  is 
to  be  well  nourished,  and  that  labor  enjoys  this 
fundamental  condition  of  stability  should  be  the 
first  object  of  inquiry  Where  conditions  are  to  be 
studied,  for  there  is  no  more  fundamental  need  of 
life.  Metabolic  insufficiency  has  of  late  been  rec- 
ognized for  school  children  as  a  cause  of  truancy, 
irritability,  apathy,  insubordination,  and  even  vice 
and  crime.  The  same  is  true  of  armies.  But  we 
have  not  yet  learned  that  it  is  no  less  true  of  com- 
munities in  time  of  peace  and  perhaps  most  of  all 
for  laborers.  Napoleon  said  an  army  "fights  on  its 
belly,"  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  army  of  toilers. 
The  old  materialists,  Biichner  and  Moleschott,  based 
their  system  on  the  phrase,  "Man  is  what  he  eats," 
and  now  the  Russian  school  of  physiologists  are 
amplifying  this  view  and  telling  us  that  we  not  only 
eat  but  think,  feel,  act,  etc.  as  we  digest,  and  are 
even  interpreting  the  higher  psychic  powers  of  man  on 
a  metabolic  basis.  Just  how  food  shortage  through- 
out the  entire  Occident  has  predisposed  its  popula- 
tion to  revolution  only  the  expert,  and  not  even  he 
can  yet  entirely  explain.  But  the  obvious  lesson  of 
it  all  is  that  every  great  industry  needs  not  only  its 
Hoover  to  insure  an  adequate  supply  but  its  practi- 
cal dietitian  to  investigate  and  suggest  ways  of 
reaching  the  sources  and  the  cures  of  discontent  in 
this  field.  If  alimentary  conditions  had  been  kept  at 

204 


THE  LABOR  PKOBLEM 

their  optimum  and  every  organ  and  tissue  had  been 
well  nourished,  and  enough  fit  food  had  been  at  the 
command  of  the  laborer's  purse,  there  would  have 
been  far  less  labor  trouble  throughout  the  world  of 
late.  Here  the  new  trophic  psychology  has  a  vast 
field  for  its  practical  application.  Never  w^as  there 
such  need  for  and  such  sure  advantage  to  our  entire 
industrial  system  from  our  teaching  the  girls  and 
women  of  the  working  classes  what  and  how  to  buy, 
how  to  cook,  flavor,  and  even  serve  foods  and  drinks 
to  make  them  appetizing,  for  appetite,  we  now  know, 
gives  the  momentum  not  only  to  digestion  as  it  is 
generally  understood  but  to  all  the  higher  and  later 
processes  of  assimilation;  while  fasting  in  all  the 
studies  that  have  been  made  of  its  conditions  makes 
restlessness  by;  far  its  chief  behavioristic  concom- 
itant. 

2.  Next  to  hunger  comes  love  as  a  psychic 
world-powrer,  the  one  conserving  the  individual  and 
the  other  perpetuating  the  race.  From  the  teens  on 
the  sexes  must  meet  wholesomely.  Each  needs  all 
the  influence  from  the  other  to  mature  aright,  espe- 
cially from  early  adolescence  well  on  into  the  age  of 
full  nubility.  Dancing,  for  instance,  is  at  this  age 
almost  a  primitive  instinct  and  can  be  made  a  far 
more  potent  regulative  of  morale  at  these  susceptible 
years  than  the  world  has  yet  realized. 

Every  normal  individual  wants  to  mate  and  enjoy, 
family  life.  Working  as  well  as  all  other  girls  must 
have  means,  too,  to  deck  themselves  appropriately, 

205 


MOKALE 

for  without  this  they  easily  lose  all  self-respect  and 
are  exposed  to  the  greatest  temptations.  A  best  dress 
or  suit,  and  occasionally  a  dressing  up  in  it,  is  itself 
a  factor  of  morale  for  both  sexes.  Even  before  mar- 
riage interest  in  the  other  sex  tends  to  stabilize  each, 
and  wedlock  and  the  added  responsibilities  it  entails 
do  this  yet  more.  Every  family  must  have  its  home 
and  be  able  to  rear  its  children  decently.  Whatever 
thwarts  phyloprogenetic  instincts  is  not  only  waste- 
ful but  dangerous,  for  psychanalysis  has  lately 
opened  a  vast  new  field  here  for  both  theory  and 
practice.  It  has  compelled  us  to  regard  almost 
everything  connected  with  the  transmission  of  the 
sacred  torch  of  life  in  a  new  light  and  taught  us  how 
many  of  the  diseases  not  only  of  the  individual  but 
of  society,  and  in  some  sense  particularly  of  indus- 
trial life,  are  due  to  derangements  of  the  erotic  and 
domestic  life.  Wage-scales  need  not  perhaps,  as  they 
now  sometimes  are,  be  supplemented  by  bonuses  for 
babies,  but  such  scales  should  always  discriminate  in 
favor  of  employees  witli  families.  The  workman's 
appreciation  of  good  schools  for  his  children  make 
these  an  asset  of  growing  worth  in  the  labor  market, 
while  licentiousness  in  a  community  is  an  industrial 
disability. 

3.  A  third  instinct  only  a  little  less  primeval  is 
that  of  ownership.  Everyone,  except  hoboes  or  ex- 
treme communists,  who  though  still  found,  in  theory 
are  very  rare  in  our  greedy  age,  craves  something  he 
can  call  all  his  very  own  property,  and  the  unique 

206 


THE  LABOR  PEOBLEM 

extension  of  bis  personality  to  all  its  interests  which 
it  thus  gives.  With  no  provision  against  sickness,  old- 
age  pensions  or  insurance,  "lay-offs,"  and  other  ex- 
igencies, the  workman  feels  insecure  and  is  ready  to 
listen  to  radicalism  just  in  proportion  as  he  feels  that 
change  would  not  make  things  worse  for  him.  Own- 
ership not  only  widens  interest  and  makes  for  con- 
servatism but  gives  a  sense  of  personal  worth,  inde- 
pendence, or  freedom  of  thought  and  action,  of  hav- 
ing a  place  and  function  in  the  social  order ;  and  also, 
what  is  perhaps  yet  more  important,  it  safeguards 
against  a  sense  of  the  injustice  of  an  industrial  sys- 
tem that  exacts  a  man's  best  endeavor  for  a  bare  sub- 
sistence; while  if  he  sees  no  chance  or  hope  of  ever 
getting  ahead,  despair  sooner  or  later  supervenes,  and 
desperation  is  the  most  dangerous  and  inflammable 
explosive  of  all  psychic  states.  Immigrants  who 
have  been  lured  to  our  shores  by  extravagant  hopes 
of  easy  wealth  suffer  most  by  the  great  disillusion 
that  they  experience  and  so  fall  easiest  prey  to  the 
ever-active  agencies  of  discontent.  A  laborer  who  has 
toiled  hard  all  his  life  and  at  sixty  is  laid  off  as  no 
longer  useful,  with  nothing  laid  up  and  hence  depen- 
dent on  his  relatives,  is  an  economic  burden  both  to 
himself  and  to  the  community,  and  the  worst  thing 
about  it  all  is  the  rankling,  festering  sense  of  injus- 
tice, which  is  not  much  mitigated  by  the  fact  that 
even  early  in  life  discouragement  may  have  made  him 
improvident  and  have  aborted  the  instinct  for  acqui- 
sition. 

207 


MORALE 

4.  This  brings  us  to  another  fundamental  instinct, 
viz.,  play,  amusement,  or  recreation.  Everyone, 
especially  those  .who  lead  the  drab  life  of  the  mod- 
ern toiler,  needs  and  craves  an  occasional  "good 
time."  Indeed  we  all  need  to  glow,  tingle,  and  feel  life 
intensely  now  and  then.  .We  want  our  affective  na- 
ture stirred  to  its  nethermost  depths.  Our  souls  as 
well  as  our  bodies  are  erethic,  and  it  seems  as  though 
our  blood  needed  sometimes  to  be  flushed  with  adren- 
alin. These  second-breath  states  and  impulses  need 
legitimate  cultivation  because  thus  only  can  the  in- 
dividual learn  to  draw  upon  his  racial  resources. 
Orgies  of  sex  and  drink  are  the  easiest  and  common- 
est vents  of  this  instinct  to  "life  more  and  fuller"  for 
which  the  soul  pants,  and  to  find  proper  vicariates  is 
one  of  the  chief  considerata  of  the  morale  of  labor,  as 
it  is  indeed  of  morale  in  other  fields.  The  degenerate 
plebs  of  Rome  ranked  the  demand  for  circuses  beside 
that  for  bread.  All  animals,  as  well  as  men,  seek 
pleasure  and  avoid  pain,  and  if  they  must  suffer,  they 
seek  compensation  for  it.  The  algedonic  scale  is  a 
long  one,  ranging  all  the  way  from  ecstasy  to  agony, 
and  the  tranquillity  of  both  the  individual  and  so- 
ciety depends  upon  the  proportions  in  which  these 
sovereign  masters  of  life  really  dominate  it.  Here 
we  especially  need  "the  new  Sunday."  Although  the 
old  Puritanical  gloom  is  fast  passing,  the  Church 
makes  now  almost  no  claim  upon  Sunday  afternoon 
and  evening,  though  it  generally  "sits  tight"  against 
opening  them  to  games,  dramas,  and  other  well-cho- 

208 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

sen  and  uplifting  amusements  lest  the  day  be  "Euro- 
peanized."  We  need  here  a  commission  to  rescue 
from  the  present  neglectful,  wasteful,  and  often 
vicious  influences  this  great  western  holiday  by  sug- 
gesting programs  that  will  make  it  the  happiest  day 
of  the  week,  and  it  is  labor  that  most  needs  this. 

5.  By  nature,  or  at  least  by  second  nature,  man  is 
a  worker.  He  must  do  and  make  things  and  enjoy 
the  advantages  that  come  from  all  that  he  does  or 
makes  well  or  he  is  a  slave.  The  struggle  of  one 
party  to  get  the  most  work  for  the  least  pay,  and  of 
the  other  to  get  the  most  pay  for  the  least  work  is  the 
nadir  of  industrial  morale  and  involves  the  greatest 
of  all  economic  wastes,  a  waste  that  will  never  cease 
until  labor  shares  both  profits  and  management  and 
the  interests  of  both  these  moieties  of  the  processes 
of  production  are  thus  identified.  Nothing  less  will 
ever  bring  industrial  peace  and  check  "sojering"  on 
the  one  side  and  exploitation  on  the  other.  Few  em- 
ployers realize  how  hard  most  men  will  work  if  the 
rewards  of  their  endeavors  are  fair  and  sure  and  in 
some  kind  of  proportion  to  their  effort.  Normally 
man  is  a  striver  and  he  will  even  drudge  if  it  pays  in 
betterment  of  his  condition  and  if  his  loyalty  be  en- 
listed. Labor  should  have  relative  permanence,  and 
instead  of  the  present  disastrous  turnovers  there 
should  be  a  new  identification  of  interests.  Just  in 
proportion  as  work  is  made  equitably  profitable,  man 
in  general  wants  more  not  less  of  it.  He  is  not  by  na- 
ture lazy,  shiftless,  or  improvident  but  is  made  so  by 

209 


MORALE 

abnormal  conditions.  Veblen  is  right;  there  is  an  in- 
stinct for  workmanship  that  if  we  could  only  appeal 
to  aright,  would  almost  redeem  man  from  the  ancient 
curse  of  his  fabled  fall  and  realize  many  ideals  now 
often  thought  to  be  unattainable. 

6.  The  need  of  mentation.  One  of  the  chief  traits 
of  man  as  distinct  from  animals  is  his  larger  brain 
and  his  highly,  some  think  abnormally  developed  in- 
tellect. Curiosity  is  perhaps  the  earliest  expression 
of  the  basal  noetic  instinct  and  is  well  developed  in 
many  animals.  All  educational  systems,  libraries, 
the  press,  science,  and  even  myth,  gossip,  and  espion- 
age, were  evolved  to  satisfy  this  craving.  Ignorance 
is  asphyxia  and  every  normal  soul  craves  more  knowl- 
edge. Tests  of  mentality  show  how  mistaken  it  is  to 
assume  that  the  illiterate  are  co  ipso  inferior  or  less 
truly  wise  than  the  learned.  The  mind  of  man  was 
never  so  active  and  alert  as  it  is  to-day.  Politics, 
local,  national,  and  international;  labor  problems, 
strikes,  with  which  the  world  to-day  fairly  boils;  war 
and  peace  methods,  social  problems,  ever  wider  in- 
dustrial relations,  automobiles,  which  every  bright 
young  man  wants  to  understand,  a  larger  view  of  all 
agricultural  methods  and  devices,  land  transporta- 
tion, steel,  mining,  ships,  immigration,  machinery, — 
all  these  are  stimulating  and  developing  the  intellect 
far  more,  on  the  whole,  than  schooling  ever  succeeded 
in  doing.  The  workman  thinks  close  to  facts,  and 
these  are  so  very  thoughfrprovoking  that  the  impulse 
to  deal  with  them  can  often  even  overcome  his  fa- 

210 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

tigue.  But  the  tired  man  is  prone  to  extreme  and 
radical  views  because  they  are  easiest,  and  inclines 
toward  trial-and-error  methods  because  the  surplus 
energy  that  feeds  the  impulse  to  intellectualize  is  in- 
sufficient. And  yet  even  thus  he  makes  hundreds  of 
inventions,  great  and  small,  every  year  and  count- 
less helpful  suggestions  of  improvement  in  processes, 
management,  and  even  organization,  many  of  which 
are  of  high  survival  value.  Even  the  academic 
phrases  of  Marx  and  the  idealism  of  the  Fabians  and 
guildists,  although  they  diverted  psychic  energy  from 
hard  reality  toward  idealism,  gave  much,  with  a 
wholesome  ferment  that  at  least  did  a  great  deal  to 
overcome  inertia  and  stimulate  rationalizing  activi- 
ties. Industrial  night-  and  trade-schools  are  doing 
ever  more,  but  life  and  industry  themselves  give  an 
even  more  firmly  organized  brain  tissue,  and  the 
workman  is  extending  his  purview  to  include  employ- 
ers' problems,  markets,  and  trade  conditions ;  and  all 
this  works  to  overcome  the  evils  of  catch  phrases  and 
the  law  of  least  effort.  The  sooner  we  learn  that 
labor  now  has  a  mind  of  its  own  and  a  very  good, 
keen,  well-stored,  and  resourceful  one,  more  and  more 
able  to  hold  its  own  in  any  forum,  court,  legislature, 
or  labor  conference  against  employers  and  capital, 
and  realize  all  the  intellectual  agencies  it  can  enlist  in 
its  behalf,  the  better  it  will  be.  Its  best  leaders  are 
men  of  rare  native  mental  power  and  sagacity.  They 
can  think  and  talk  convincingly,  and  their  leadership 
is  the  spontaneous  acme  of  sincerity,  of  well-matured 

211 


MORALE 

and  intense  conviction.  Their  creeds  are  ever  more 
constructive  and  less  destructive.  They  often  have 
the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are  made  and  the  best  of 
them  are  incorruptible.  What  they  most  crave  is  to 
be  taken  into  the  confidences  of  and  into  the  same 
kind  of  partnership  with  those  who  control.  What 
they  moat  dread  is  secret  arrangements  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  those  whom  they  loyally  represent.  Thus 
every  appeal  to  the  mentality  of  labor  and  every  op- 
portunity of  the  laborer  for  the  kind  of  culture  he 
wants,  as  distinguished  always  from  that  his  employ- 
ers or  even  philanthropists  and  social  workers  think 
he  ought  to  have,  is  a  direct  asset  to  efficient  produc- 
tion ;  and  to  thwart  this  noetic  instinct  or  even  to  ig- 
nore and  neglect  it  is  simply  to  drive  it  into  perverse, 
wasteful,  and  perhaps  dangerous  channels. 

7.  Man  is  the  most  gregarious  of  all  creatures  and 
he  owes  his  conquest  of  animals  and  the  material 
world  very  largely  to  this  basal  instinct  which,  as 
Trotter  has  shown,  is  hardly  less  primitive  than 
that  of  self-preservation.  From  the  huddling  of  ani- 
mals for  warmth,  as  Sutherland  has  shown,  to  the  mob 
and  tribal  instinct  and  up  to  the  club,  party,  sect,  and 
class,  the  impulse  to  act,  feel,  and  think  in  masses  or 
groups  is  one  of  the  great  primordials.  Fashions, 
creeds,  philosophies,  unions,  schools  of  thought,  folk- 
ways, mores?  communities, — all  show  the  strength  and 
depth  of  the  human  trend  toward  collectivity.  The 
crowd  is  very  subject  to  suggestion  and  must  have 
and  is  very  subordinate  to  its  leaders.  It  is  this  in- 

212 


istinct  that  makes  solitude  so  painful  and  domestic 
service  so  discredited,  and  causes  the  now  world-wide 
tendency  to  urban  congestion.  There  is  often  a  con- 
flict of  loyalties,  e.  g.,  race  and  language  conscious- 
ness may  be  arrayed,  especially  in  polyglot  communi- 
ties, against  trade  loyalties.  The  ties  of  comradeship 
in  arms  are  very  close,  and  at  home  the  war  tended 
to  break  down  class  distinctions,  even  on  the  street, 
and  it  is  this  that  makes  the  dispersal  of  great  crowds 
when  aroused  so  hard  and  even  dangerous.  Free  as- 
sociation, good-fellowship,  and  fraternization,  there- 
fore, express  an  instinct  that  can  do  great  things  for 
good  or  evil,  and  if  this  is  thwarted  or  repressed,  men 
either  stagnate  and  grow  cranky  or  else  become  fit 
for  "treason,  strategy,  or  spoils."  Every  hour  of  idle- 
ness and  discontent,  to  say  nothing  of  strikes,  fer- 
tilizes the  germs  of  Bolshevism. 

But  there  is  one  great  danger  that  may  be  charac- 
terized here  as  follows:  Science  is  the  very  highest 
embodiment  of  the  principle  of  reality.  It  represents 
the  most  heroic  objective  and  impersonal  attitude  of 
mind.  Huxley  compared  the  devotion  of  the  modern 
investigator  to  fact  and  law  to  the  Christian  sense  of 
self-surrender  and  his  feeling  of  absolute  dependence 
upon  God  and  His  will.  We  must  give  up  precon- 
ceived ideas  and  become  as  little  children  as  con- 
trasted with  the  self -satisfy  ing  processes  of  thinking 
under  the  "pleasure  principle."  It  is  incidental  that 
science  has  conferred  so  many  blessings  upon  man- 
kind. But  while  we  have  utilized  it  for  all  kinds  of 

213 


MORALE 

comforts,  we  have  not  really  learned  its  great  lesson 
of  the  inexorable  inviolability  of  the  law  of  cause  and 
effect.  Many  if  not  most  strive  to  lessen  pain  and 
toil  and  to  increase  and  equalize  pleasures,  which 
have  become  the  chief  quest  of  man  to-day. 

Thus  the  gregarious  spirit  has  one  of  its  culmina- 
tions in  the  drift  toward  the  city,  where  so  many  in- 
ventions can  be  enjoyed  as  contrasted  with  the  coun- 
try where  man  faces  the  stern  laws  of  nature.  As  E. 
G.  Groves  well  says,  "Everything  conspires  to  build 
into  the  urban  philosophy  of  life  the  conviction  that 
the  obstacles  that  hamper  human  inclination  are  due 
to  the  interference  of  other  people."  In  the  city  we  feel 
that  we  would  get  all  we  want  but  for  the  conflicting 
wants  of  others.  Because  contacts  are  chiefly  with 
persons  the  idea  arjses  that  all  our  thwartings  are 
due  to  wrongs  inflicted  upon  us  by  other  people,  and 
so  they  get  the  blame;  while  in  the  country  it  is  na- 
ture that  checks  our  purposes.  To  this  source  of 
urban  interest  must  be  added  the  more  rapid  weak- 
ening of  older  moral  and  religious  restraints  by  radi- 
calism, the  acceleration  of  the  state  of  mind  that  feels 
that  we  must  get  everything  here  and  now,  the 
sharper  focalization  upon  the  bald  economic  problem 
of  getting  more  dollars  at  once  by  any  means,  which 
seem  enhanced  in  value  because  they  can  be  ex- 
changed for  such  intense  pleasures,  and  finally  the 
fact  that  demagogues  and  extremists  make  more 
promises  and  arouse  more  hopes  which  are  unful- 
filled. All  these  tend  to  lower  the  tone  of  city  morale. 

214 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

We  must  not  forget,  too,  that  the  closing  of  the  sa- 
loon, where  men  met  their  friends  and  which  was  an 
important  organ  for  the  deployment  of  the  social 
sense,  made  it  necessary  to  find  another  vent  for  their 
gregarious  instinct  in  the  union  or  in  collective  ac- 
tion for  the  betterment  of  their  condition.  (See  the 
chapter  on  Prohibition.) 

Labor  is  now  at  the  greatest  crisis  in  its  history. 
We  are  told  that  since  the  war  began,  wages  have,  on 
on  the  whole,  advanced  about  100  per  cent.,  hours 
have  been  reduced  10  per  cent,  and  efficiency  and 
output  in  many  industries  are  to-day  only  about  80 
per  cent  of  the  normal.  There  is  only  one  way  of  re- 
ducing prices  for  the  necessities  of  life,  and  that  is 
increased  output.  To  raise  wages  and  lessen  output 
only  makes  matters  worse.  Labor  in  this  country  is 
at  a  parting  of  the  ways,  and  at  the  present  writing 
it  seems  uncertain  whether  its  course  will  be  directed 
by  its  conservative  leaders  or  by  a  more  radical  group 
of  them.  It  is  significant  that  in  Germany  the  work- 
men have  lately  gone  on  record  as  favoring  a  "ten- 
hour  day,  no  strikes,  and  no  advance  in  wages."  If 
the  radical  element  of  labor  wins  control,  it  will  be  a 
heavy  blow  to  all  the  great  American  expectations  of 
business  leadership  in  the  world  to-day.  Unionism 
and  probably  collective  bargaining  have  come  to  stay. 
This  involves  the  right  of  private,  always  sharply  dis- 
tinguished in  this  respect  from  public  utility  and  gov- 
ernmental officials,  to  strike  if  necessary  to  enforce 
their  demands.  It  will  be  hard  indeed  to  bring  labor 

215 


to  give  up  the  right  to  be  represented  by  delegates  of 
its  own  choosing  whether  in  the  shop  or  brought  iu 
from  outside,  but  the  shop  that  is  closed  either  to 
members  of  the  union  or  to  those  who  prefer  to  stay 
outside  will  always  result  in  great  and  unfair  disad- 
vantage, in  the  one  case  to  the  employer  and  in  the 
other  to  the  laborer.  Employers  in  this  country  are 
less  awake  to  the  needs  of  the  hour  and  to  the  neces- 
sity of  making  concessions  to  the  new  demands  of  the 
laborer  than  those  in  Europe.  They  do  not  realize 
the  power  of  labor  nor  the  dangers  of  revolution  that 
now  impend.  Still  less  do  they  realize  the  subtle  plea 
that  soviet,  ideals  under  various  names  are  now  mak- 
ing to  labor  throughout  the  world,  and  it  is  lament- 
able that  our  political  leaders  have  not  studied,  and 
therefore  vastly  underestimate  the  force  of  the  ap- 
peal that  labor  not  only  can  now  but  ought  every- 
where to  take  the  helm  and  reorganize  the  world. 
The  best  of  us  have  not  seen  that  labor  to-day,  if  it 
fully  realizes  its  power  and  can  organize,  has  the 
world  "on  the  hip"  and  can  radically  reconstruct  our 
entire  industrial  system,  destroy  all  the  economic  ad- 
vantages which  our  size  and  resources  make  possible 
and  which  we  have  so  fondly  counted  upon  after  the 
war.  The  gravest  of  all  its  bequests  to  this  restora- 
tion period  is  the  problem  whether  we  have  leaders 
who  are  at  once  informed,  sagacious,  and  foresightful 
enough  to  find  or  make  a  way  out  of  the  present  dead- 
lock, which  the  story  of  the  labor  conference  at  Wash- 
ington now  ought  to  bring  home  to  all  of  us.  The 

216 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

morale  of  Capital  and  also  of  Labor  and  their  rela- 
tions to  each  other  is  at  present  very  low,  and  until 
there  is  a  new  morale  for  both,  we  can  never  have  in- 
dustrial peace.  The  Whitley  report  shows  that  Eng- 
land, owing  probably  to  the  better  organization  of 
her  boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce,  is 
much  farther  on  in  the  way  of  this  peace  than  we  are. 
.While  this  plan  could  not  be  adopted  without  modifi- 
cations to  fit  it  to  our  conditions,  it  is  a  hopeful  sign 
that  if  employers  like  Judge  Gary  have  as  yet  little 
conception  of  the  new  industrial  revolution  that  is 
now  pending,  others  like  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr., 
with  his  plan  of  a  hierarchy  of  joint  council  from 
the  smaller  local  plants  up  to  those  of  national  di- 
mensions, have  glimpsed  a  way  of  setting  a  backfire 
to  the  insidious  soviet  principle  that  workers  alone 
shall  rule  the  world. 

It  now  begins  to  seem  not  impossible  that  the  time 
will  come  sooner  or  later  when  we  shall  have  to  face 
the  issue  between  the  utter  loss  of  our  present  pro- 
ductive power  and  of  our  industrial  and  commercial 
prospects  on  the  one  hand  or,  on  the  other,  the  revo- 
lutionary reversal  of  our  present  restrictions  on  im- 
migration and  import  some  millions  of  Asiatic  toilers 
to  check  the  profiteering  spirit  of  labor  leaders. 

In  ancient  Rome,  the  women,  Zeller  (in  his  Vor- 
trdge  und  Abhandlungen)  tells  us,  were  fabled  to 
have  struck  and  declared  they  would  bear  no  chil- 
dren until  the  Senate  granted  them  certain  rights. 
This,  of  course,  was  a  measure  far  more  desperate 

217 


MORALE 

than  present  methods  and  one  not  yet  resorted  to  in 
modern  life.  He  also  tells  us  how  when  the  pipers 
struck  and  marched  to  Tiburnum,  they  had  Rome  at 
their  mercy  for  there  could  be  no  sacrifices  to  the  gods, 
no  religious  processions,  no  marriages  or  funerals. 
This  suggests  what  might  happen  if  to-day  the  clergy 
should  strike  and  close  all  the  churches,  the  results  of 
which  an  anonymous  recent  skit  has  amplified.  In 
the  medieval  university  students  often  struck  against 
their  dons  and  also  against  the  municipalities  and 
even  kings  and  popes,  and  it  was  thus  they  won  their 
ancient  liberties  and  privileges ;  while  to-day  students 
and  even  school  classes  and  teachers  themselves  have 
taken  similar  measures,  and  it  is  not  entirely  incon- 
ceivable that  our  modern  educational  institutions 
may  thus  some  day  tie  up  the  sources  of  knowledge. 
These  things  may  happen  on  a  larger  scale,  and  even 
courts,  legislative  bodies,  kings,  and  presidents  may 
follow  suit.  But  even  this  would  be  less  disastrous 
in  its  immediate  effects  than  if  the  miners  combined 
to  freeze  us  and  food  producers  should  conspire  to 
starve  us  to  their  terms.  Capital  might  withdraw,  and 
all  bankers,  millionaires,  and  heavy  stockholders  re- 
tire with  all  their  holdings  to  some  far  off  Plutocria 
of  their  own,  beyond  the  reach  of  every  confiscatory 
method,  and  leave  the  rest  of  the  world  to  syndicalists 
and  socialists,  and  all  the  wage-earners  the  world 
over  might  at  a  predetermined  day  and  hour  paralyze 
all  occupations.  At  any  rate  such  vague  possibilities 
may  hearten  us  that  the  worst  has  not  yet  come. 

218 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MORALE    AND    PROHIBITION 

The  suddenness  and  extent  of  prohibition  as  one  cause  of  world  un- 
rest— Comparisons  with  the  effects  of  hunger — The  r61e  of  food 
shortage  in  the  development  of  the  race — Labor  meetings  as  a 
substitute  for  the  saloon — Projection  of  alimentary  diseasement 
and  the  need  of  stimulation  outward. 

Practically  every  great  nation  and  race  in  history 
and  even  savage  tribes  have  had  some  form  of  stimu- 
lating beverage  or  drug,  and  this  has  often  played 
a  very  prominent  role  in  their  social  customs  and  re- 
ligious rites.  Even  the  Christian  Church  has  utilized 
wine  in  one  of  its  chief  sacraments.  While  there  have 
always  been  ascetics,  the  great  majority  of  men  who 
have  lived  on  this  earth  have,  at  least  occasionally, 
drunk  something  stronger  than  water.  However 
convincing  the  physiological  data  which  favor  ab- 
stinence may  be — and  this,  I  believe,  is  by  no  means 
a  closed  question — the  psychological  and  social  effects 
of  such  a  stimulus  have  by  no  means  been  sufficient- 
ly studied  and,  what  is  perhaps  no  less  important, 
the  few  and  significant  data  we  have  in  this  field 
have  not  yet  been  given  their  true  evaluation. 

Not  only  laborers  but  the  average  man  and,  indeed, 
his  forebears  for  generations  have  had  their  tipple, 
and  for  a  very  large  proportion  of  them  beer  or  light 
wine  has  been,  used  habitually  and  daily.  Of  these 

219 


MORALE 

moderate  drinkers  there  are  perhaps  few  who  have 
put  themselves  hors  de  combat  by  a  "spree." 

Science  tells  us  what  few  users  would  deny — that 
it  is  not  the  very  best  food  and  even  that  it  has  some 
qualities  of  poison;  but  so  do  some  of  our  habitual 
foods,  as  well  as  tea  and  coffee.  The  user,  however, 
insists  that  it  does  certain  things  for  him  all  its  own 
and  so  persists,  if  he  can,  in  using  it.  He  believes 
it  rests  and  happifies  him.  It  may  draw  a  little  on 
his  physiological  reserves,  but  he  often  needs  to  use 
it  to  keep  the  pace  or  to  be  contented.  It  is  a  sedative, 
a  banisher  of  care,  trouble,  and  worry,  tending  to 
make  one  live  in  the  present  and  banish  disquietude 
about  the  future  and  dim  unpleasant  memories  of 
the  past.  If  it  dulls  his  intelligence  a  bit,  that  itself 
is  often  a  relief.  If  his  food  is  poor  and  scanty,  he 
thinks  he  has  something  that  can  to  some  extent 
make  good  the  deficit,  and  he  feels  dietary  shortage 
or  error  less  consciously.  If  his  wages  are  small  and 
his  work  hard,  he  has  a  solace. 

The  saloon  is  a  social  as  well  as  dietetic  institu- 
tion and  it  also  stimulates  the  sociability  and  good 
fellowship  so  satisfying  to  gregarious  man.  In  the 
saloon  many  find  one  of  the  chief  joys  of  life.  They 
feel  relaxation  and  stimulus  combined  in  proportions 
which  are  most  agreeable,  and  go  home  to  happier 
sleep  and  more  pleasant  dreams  for  it  all  and  back 
to  work  in  the  morning  with  pleasing  memories  and 
anticipations.  The  moderate  user  loaths  the  sot  and 
is  indignant  at  the  reformer  who  intimates  that  he  is 

220 


MORALE  AND  PROHIBITION 

in  danger  of  becoming  one.  The  more  intelligent 
advocates  of  temperance  have  recognized  the  social 
function  of  convivial  drinking  and  have  tried  long, 
if  not  very  wisely  and  successfully,  to  provide  a 
psychic  substitute,  not  only  for  beverages  that  cheer 
and  can  inebriate  but  also  for  the  saloon  itself.  It 
is  much  that  the  need  of  such  a  vicariate  has  been 
recognized. 

Now,  suddenly  and  with  none  of  these  palliatives 
or  ameliorations,  the  saloons  throughout  the  country 
are  closed,  the  currents  of  habit  dammed,  and  one 
of  the  staple  intakes  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
world's  workers  is  cut  off  by  drastic  and  penal  leg- 
islation. Upon  whom  does  the  chief  burden  of  hard- 
ship fall?  Not  upon  the  manufacturers,  for  they 
are  a  small  minority;  not  upon  the  bartenders  who 
have  been  thrown  out  of  business,  although  they  are 
many  and  have  much  political  and  social  influence; 
not  upon  habitual  drunkards,  for  they,  too,  are  a 
small  minority;  but  chiefly  upon  those  who  indulge 
only  in  moderation.  Some  of  these  have  welcomed 
the  new  law  because  it  strengthened  in  them  eco- 
nomic or  hygienic  impulses  in  the  same  direction 
which,  without  this  external  aid,  were  too  feeble  to 
act.  The  consciences  of  these  have  been  reen  forced. 
Crime  and  disorder  due  to  inebriation  have  been 
everywhere  decreased,  it  is  true.  But  the  great  ma- 
jority of  moderate  users  feel  that  one  of  the  inherent 
rights  of  man  has  been  invaded  and  experience  a 
goading  sense  of  injustice.  Perhaps  they  are  better 

221 


MOKALE 

off  and  will  admit  it  later,  but  nevertheless  the 
effect  of  this  abrupt  breaking  of  a  fixed  habit  of  the 
individual  and  of  the  race  is  bound  to  cause  deep 
and  .widespread,  if  rather  slow  and  to  the  psycho- 
logical laity  undetected,  results. 

Ask  anyone  who  has  tried  to  give  up  smoking  (and 
this  is  a  practice  which  the  new  lady  voters  and 
their  followers,  and  the  parsons  and  pedagogues 
which  have  sometimes  been  called  a  third  sex  and 
all  their  followers  will  next  try  to  stop)  how  he  felt, 
and  he  will  reply  that  the  hours  dragged,  that  he 
was  restless,  uneasy,  made  changes  in  his  daily  habits, 
sought  new  interests  or  diversions,  or  worried  along 
hoping  that  the  uneasiness  would  abate  or  something 
would  turn  up;  or  possibly  he  sought  a  substitute. 
So,  too,  the  moderate  drinker  seeks  some  other  source 
of  mild  psychic  inebriation  as  a  surrogate  for  the  ex- 
periences of  the  saloon  and  as  a  vent  for  his  aimless, 
ill-defined  cravings.  He  is  perhaps  all  unconsciously 
discontented  and  his  attitude  is  that  of  a  seeker  of 
something,  though  he  knows  not  what.  He  is  a  trifle 
resentful,  perhaps  anxious  and  fearsome,  before  he 
finds  a  definite  object  or  cause  for  these  feelings. 
There  is  something  lacking  and  his  life  seems  a  bit 
void.  Formerly  he  was  able  to  change  his  inner  states 
at  the  bar,  but  now  that  this  is  impossible,  the  only 
relief  is  in  seeking  a  change  in  his  outer  situation  in 
order  to  reestablish  the  lost  equilibrium  with  his  en- 
vironment. This  is,  of  course,  essentially  uncon- 
scious, and  he  has  very  little  idea  of  what  is  taking 

222 


MORALE  AND  PROHIBITION 

place  within  him.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  law  of 
psycho-kinetic  equivalents  for  they  work  as  secretly 
and  slowly  as  do  irresistibly. 

Now,  all  studies  of  fasting  in  men  and  animals, 
as  we  have  said  above,  show  that  shrinkage  of  rations 
makes  all  creatures  restless.  Incipient  starvation  has 
played  an  important  if  not  the  chief  r61e  in  all  tho 
great  migrations  of  insects,  fish,  birds,  higher  mam- 
mals, and  men.  The  westward  sweep  over  southern 
Europe  of  Huns,  Vandals,  and  other  wild  tribes  from 
western  and  southern  Asia  is  now  known  to  have 
been  caused  by  a  physiological  upset  due  to  climatic 
changes  attending  the  desiccation  of  a  great  internal 
sea  that  made  waste  and  arid  wide  spaces  that  had 
once  been  fertile  and  capable  of  supporting  large 
populations.  When  the  food  supply  grows  scanty, 
every  living  thing  that  has  organs  of  locomotion 
mobilizes  for  a  trek  in  quest  of  better  food  areas.  If 
it  is  impossible  to  change  the  habitat,  then  the  state 
of  mind  undergoes  a  change  under  the  same  princi- 
ple of  compensation.  Not  only  do  men,  as  Napoleon 
said,  fight  on  their  stomachs,  but  courage,  persever- 
ancej  temperance,  and  even  public  sentiment  and 
opinion  depend  largely  on  the  normality  of  nutritive 
processes.  We  even  hear  much,  now  of  the  herbivor- 
ous and  carnivorous  types  of  character  in  man,  but 
a  volume  would  hardly  suffice  to  enumerate  the  basic 
facts  that  show  how  hunger  is  a  coregent  of  love  in 
the  world. 

If  alcohol  is  the  vicious  thing  physiologically  it 

223 


MOEALE 

is  now  commonly  said  to  be,  even  the  moderate  drink- 
er under  prohibition  must  be  regarded  somewhat  as 
a  patient  undergoing  a  more  or  less  unwilling  cure. 
His  whole  system  in  general,  and  his  metabolic  ac- 
tivities in  particular,  are  in  process  of  refunctioning 
if  not  of  reconstruction.  Especially  his  stomach, 
liver,  kidneys,  and  brain,  which  school  temperance 
books  and  cuts  depict  as  so  disorganized  and  morbid, 
must  undergo  a  considerable  change  in  order  to  be- 
come normal,  and  so  we  must  expect  our  patients  to 
be  irritable,  and  make  all  due  allowances  and  pro- 
vision for  this.  It  is  thus  characteristic  of  this  state 
of  mind  that  if  it  cannot  find  outlet,  it  is  prone  to 
make  an  object  for  this  smothered  resentment.  If 
thwarted  in  one  direction,  man  seeks  vent  for  his 
feelings  in  another.  Thus  it  comes  that  if  the  tem- 
perancelers  are  too  strongly  entrenched  to  be  over- 
come, the  former  would-be  drinker  turns  against 
capital,  employers,  and  the  industrial  system,  or  at 
least  is  more  ready  to  listen  to  the  advocates  of  radi- 
cal views. 

Deprived  of  the  conviviality  of  the  saloon  he  finds 
a  proxy  for  it  in  strike  meetings,  where  common 
cause  brings  him  very  close  to  his  fellow-men.  When 
the  bars  are  closed  his  recourse  is  the  streets,  and  if 
there  is  a  mob  or  riot  he  finds  in  these  a  source  of  ex- 
citement which  he  once  found  in  the  bottle  or  the 
glass.  Instead  of  a  few  boon  companions  he  seeks 
vent  for  his  social  instincts  in  the  crowd,  and  the  dis- 
content of  his  alimentary  tract  is  projected  outward 

224 


MORALE  AND  PROHIBITION 

upon  his  general  social  and  industrial  environment. 

Teetotalism  has  its  place,  and  a  very  important 
one  in  the  cure  of  chronic  inebriates,  and  we  all  know; 
the  arguments  and  statistics  of  the  temperance  propa- 
ganda by  heart;  but  of  the  other  side  we  know  far 
less.  Most  great  reforms  come  slowly,  but  here  actu- 
al prohibition  has  come  almost  like  a  shock  and  the 
whole  autonomic  system  has  to  make  readjustments 
as  best  it  can.  Thus  a  psychologist  seeks  to  find  the 
relation  between  the  prohibition  of  Vodka  and  the 
Russian  debacle  and  Bolshevism,  as  well  as  between 
industrial  and  social  unrest;  and  in  this  country  the 
epidemic  of  strikes,  which  S.  C.  Mason  of  the  Na- 
tional Association  of  Manufacturers  states  has  cost 
us  ten  million  dollars  a  day  for  the  last  eight  months, 
cannot  be  entirely  disconnected  from  our  sudden  and 
enforced  abstinence. 

Men  in  process  of  cure  of  the  drink  habit  are  more 
particular  a.bout  their  food  and  more  dependent  upon 
both  its  quantity  and  quality.  Better  edibles  have 
long  been  known  to  be  a  safeguard  against  this  habit, 
and  poor,  badly-cooked,  ill-adapted,  or  insufficient 
nutriment  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  craving 
that  may  make  the  drunkard.  Thus  to  set  a  table  in 
any  sense  or  degree  which  can  make  up  for  the  ta- 
booed bar,  especially  with  the  present  soaring  prices, 
is  a  graver  problem  than  either  wage-earner  or  house- 
wife has  yet  learned  to  realize  and  which  they  are  not 
competent  to  solve  if  they  do  see  it.  That  subtle  and 
of  late  much-discussed  thing  we  call  appetite,  which  at 

225 


MOKALE 

its  best  impels  all  the  processes  of  the  lower  and 
even  the  higher  activities  of  digestion,  is  so  metamor- 
phic  that  we  cannot  trace  all  its  transformations, 
one  of  which,  some  are  now  telling  us,  is  hunger  for 
intellectual  pabulum.  But  we  do  know  that  both 
its  normal  and  perverted  forms  are  profound  deter- 
minants of  both  character  and  conduct  and  that  its 
satisfactions  or  thwartings  on  its  different  planes 
have  very  much  to  do  with  the  place  of  both  indivi- 
duals and  communities  on  the  algedonic  scale;  and 
also  that  they  are  potent  factors  in  activation  or 
tranquillization. 

The  saloon,  indeed,  has  always  played  a  great  so- 
cial role,  far  more  important  than  even  psychological 
sociologists  have  yet  realized.  It  was  the  poor  man's 
club  where  he  met  his  fellows,  exchanged  views  and 
concepts,  learned  what  was  going  on  in  his  environ- 
ment, and  got  into  more  vital  touch  with  it.  It  was 
also  a  great  political  institution  where  the  henchman 
met  his  followers  and  won  their  votes.  For  this  so- 
cial intercourse  he  now  substitutes  a  trade-union 
meeting  where  his  own  individual  interests  are  de- 
bated by  those  in  his  calling,  and  here  he  seeks  and 
finds  contact  with  narrow,  more  personal,  and  more 
common  interests. 

One  reason  for  this  is  the  deep  human  need  for  ex- 
citement. So  urgent  is  this  that  if  man  cannot  get 
it  by  drink,  he  will  work  up  calentures  about  the  items 
of  his  environment.  Durkheim  and  his  school  think 
the  great  step  upward  in  the  early  history  of  man 

226 


MORALE  AND  PROHIBITION 

was  taken  in  the  fervor  of  collective  feeling,  think- 
ing, and  acting,  as  in  the  savage  corroboree ;  and  mild 
inebriation,  whether  by  drink,  ideas,  or  common  sen- 
timents, not  only  fuses  individual  souls  into  a  larger 
whole  but  also  and  by  many  other  means  loosens 
higher  superindividual,  racial  energies,  and  inspires 
each  with  the  instinct  of  the  herd.  The  deepest  root 
and  chief  charm  of  alcohol  is  that  its  cult  mobilizes 
the  higher  powers  of  men  in  its  way  and  enables  each 
to  draw  on  the  stored  capital  of  the  species.  This, 
too,  is  its  danger.  A  great  many  of  the  most  signal 
achievements  of  man  in  his  progress  upward  have 
been  done  in  this  exalted  and  inspired  state  when  he 
seems  to  be  helped  by  powers  higher  than  his  own. 
Religion  itself  owes  much  if  not  most  of  its  in- 
fluence to  the  fact  that  its  cults  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  individual  those  powers  which  inebria- 
tion is  the  easiest  and  most  vulgar  way  of  getting  at 
and  using. 

Human  nature  will  not  give  up  this  ready  way  of 
access  or  appeal  without  an  adequate  substitute  and 
should  not  be  expected  to  do  so.  Hence  the  demand 
is  now  laid  upon  us  as  never  before  to  find  the  sources 
of  legitimate  excitement  which  may  occasionally 
arouse  us  to  a  higher  pitch  of  abandon.  To  do  this 
is  now  one  of  the  imperative  tasks  of  morale  in  the 
interest  not  only  of  education  but  of  industrial,  so- 
cial, and  civic  life.  Many  if  not  most  of  the  great 
questions  of  this  reconstruction  era  have  been  more 
warmed  and  heated  than  they  would  otherwise  have 

227 


MORALE 

been  because  this  ready  recourse  to  low-level  stimu- 
lus has  been  removed. 

Drunkenness  is  a  terrible  disease,  and  perhaps  it 
needed  a  no  less  drastic  cure  than  prohibition.  But 
the  patients  have  now  convalesced  from  the  disease 
itself  and  are  like  men  who,  having  taken  drugs 
that  had  checked  the  invasion  of  noxious  germs,  must 
now  undergo  a  subsequent  convalescence  from  the 
effects  of  the  strong  antidotes  that  must  be  elimin- 
ated from  their  systems.  If  they  are  cured  of  the 
disease,  they  are  not  yet  cured  of  the  medicine. 

There  was  a  time  when  men  found  needed  excite- 
ment in  religion,  which  sometimes  lapsed  to  orgies 
and  even  debauches.  Some  of  the  most  intense  ex- 
periences of  the  race  and  the  individual  have  been  in 
this  domain,  but  that  is  no  longer  the  case.  Wars, 
panics,  great  psychic  epidemics,  have  swept  over  the 
world,  and  along  with  their  devastations  have  also 
served  as  vents  to  compensate  man  for  the  long  re- 
pressions that  society  and  the  mores  always  impose. 
In  ancient  Rome  the  circus,  in  Spain  the  bull-fight, 
in  various  Catholic  countries  the  customs  of  Mardi 
Gras,  the  carniral  of  the  Corso,  hallowe'en,  April 
FooPs  Day,  where  liberty  degenerates  into  license 
and  everyone  feels  impelled  to  let  himself  go  and  for 
the  time  being  breaks  the  monotony  and  routine  of 
life,  and  now  perhaps  the  mild  excitement  of  the 
movies,  prize-fights,  and  our  great  national  games 
may  serve  something  of  this  purpose.  But  the  aver- 
age modern  toiler,  especially  in  this  country,  knows 

228 


MORALE  AND  PROHIBITION 

little  or  nothing  of  any  of  these  and  so  turns  to  dissi- 
pation or  drink,  which  in  a  sense  must  vicariate  for 
all  of  them.  Our  problem  thus  is  to  see  that  as  the 
world  "goes  dry,"  the  human  soul  must  not  dessicate. 
Plato  longed  for  a  day  when  statesmen  would  become 
philosophers;  and  philosophers,  statesmen.  Now  we 
are  realizing  that  for  many  reasons  and  in  manj; 
fields  legislators  ought  to  be  psychologists.  But,  alas ! 
we  are  about  as  far  from  realizing  the  classical  as  the 
modern  ideal.  The  psychologists  have  a  duty  here  in 
this  reconstruction  period  which  they  have  not  yet 
accomplished. 


CHAPTER  XV 

MORALE   AND   PROFITEERING 

War  always  followed  by  a  period  of  greed— Its  camouflages— The 
cures  of  (a)  publicity;  (b)  ridicule;  (c)  portrayals  of  the  simple 
life;  (d)  morale  and  revolution— The  need  of  studying  as  well  aa 
burning  anarchistic  literature. 

War  always  upsets  industry.  Young  men  are 
called  to  the  colors,  and  older  men  and  .women  and 
boys  and  girls  take  their  places.  The  vast  supplies, 
stores,  munitions,  and  ships  that  must  be  provided  in 
as  short  a  time  as  possible  transform  the  machinery 
of  production  and  distribution  and  cause  general  un- 
settlement.  The  government  comes  to  the  aid  or  as- 
sumes control  of  our  great  public  service  corpora- 
tions. There  is  great  centralization  of  power  and 
perhaps  arbitrary  use  of  it,  and  lavish  and  often  in- 
considerate expenditure.  Thus,  along  with  and  often 
as  if  in  compensation  for  the  glow  of  patriotic  and 
self-abnegating  enthusiasm,  arises  a  spirit  of  greed 
and  profiteering.  Wages  and  prices  seesaw  upward, 
and  the  motive  of  public  good  gives  place  to  that  of 
private  or  personal  profit.  Even  those  who  respond 
generously  to  the  many  war  charities  and  other  calls 
cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  make  excessive 
profits,  opportunities  for  doing  which  are  so  many 
and  alluring.  Legislation  against  the  high  cost  of 
living,  the  sale  at  cost  of  government  stores,  ex- 

230 


MORALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

posure  of  wrong-doing,  court  procedures,  and  public- 
ity can  help  a  little;  but  so  strong  and  fundamental 
is  the  lust  to  own  and  acquire,  so  well  entrenched, 
able,  and  subtle  are  the  defenses  of  even  the  most  ob- 
noxious trust  methods  of  hoarding  and  manipulating 
the  market,  and  so  many  are  the  members  of  our  law- 
giving  bodies  who  secretly  hold  retainers  for  the  in- 
terests, and  so  powerful  and  sagacious  are  their  lob- 
bies that  the  best  legislation  can  only  slightly  miti- 
gate the  evil,  for  the  more  reformatory  the  laws,  the 
more  difficult  it  is  to  execute  them.  "Why  should  and 
how  could  I  refuse  to  accept  high  selling  rates  like 
my  competitors?  The  purpose  of  business  is  to  make 
all  the  money  it  can,  whether  from  a  government  con- 
tract or  customers,  and  to  ask  me  to  charge  less  than 
I  can  get  is  not  only  an  interference  with  the  liberty 
of  trade  but  is  a  blow  at  my  rights  and  those  of  eco- 
nomic society.  How  can  I  be  asked  to  forego  the  ad- 
vantages others  are  utilizing  to  the  uttermost?  Is  it 
not  rather  my  right  and  my  duty  to  enter  and  stay 
in  the  battle  of  competition  and  enlarge  my  business 
and.  make  it  lucrative  by  every  decent  means?" 

To  meet  this  spirit  by  an  appeal  to  the  good  of 
the  community  as  a  whole,  or  by  preaching  the  re- 
ligious duty  of  self-subordination,  service,  and  sacri- 
fice, or  by  portraying  the  evils  of  selfishness  is  insuffi- 
cient The  profiteer  often  gives  generously  to  his 
Church,  if  he  has  one,  and  feels  especially  that  if  he 
has  made  honest  returns  of  his  property  and  income 
and  paid  all  the  taxes  the  government  claims,  he  has 

231 


MORALE 

done  his  duty  to  his  country.  Perhaps  he  does  more 
yet  by  way  of  charities  and  feels  that  he  has  bought 
and  paid  for  protection  and  immunity.  Moreover,  he 
has  laws  or  can  have  them  made,  or  else  can  find  able 
counsel  to  justify  ways  of  legal  evasion  from  those 
which  would  curb  his  excesses.  In  fact,  neither 
charity,  patriotism,  nor  good  citizenship  as  he  con- 
ceives them  offers  any  formidable  barrier  to  his  lust 
for  gain.  Perhaps  he  is  even  considered  generous  to 
his  employees  and  has  won  and  is  proud  of  their 
loyalty,  and  is  thought  honest,  benevolent,  and  pub- 
lic-spirited in  his  community.  But  for  all  this  the 
profiteer  lacks  the  very  basis  of  business  morale. 

.What  is  this  and  how  can  it  appeal  to  him?  This 
is  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  pressing  problems  of 
the  whole  reconstruction  morale.  To  find  an  ade- 
quate answer  would  be  to  find  a  way  of  escape  from 
one  of  the  greatest  dangers  that  threaten  human  so- 
ciety to-day.  Perhaps  there  is  no  remedy  and  perhaps 
no  safeguard  can  be  found.  Ancient  states,  especially 
Greece  and  Kome,  perished  because  they  could  find 
no  means  of  checking  the  disintegration  of  their 
social  and  political  organizations  by  the  lust  of  per- 
sonal aggrandizement.  They  declined  so  far  because 
public  spirit  died.  Are  we  destined  to  share  their 
fate?  The  torch  of  their  civilization  not  only  burned 
dimly  but  would  have  gone  out  completely,  and  the 
world  would  have  been  plunged  into  utter  darkness 
but  for  the  timely  advent  of  Christianity.  But  can 
we  hope  for  any  new  dispensation  as  regenerative 

232 


MORALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

as  that  was  to  save  us  from  a  more  complete  fall? 

Many  corrective  agencies  besides  the  appeal  to  leg- 
islation and.  courts  are  already  at  work,  others  sug- 
gested, and  still  others  are  possible  for  both  the  trusts 
that  squeeze  competition  and  the  profiteering  that 
squeezes  customers,  as  follows: — 

1.  Publicity,  e.  g.f  in  the  Ida  Tarbell  exposure  of 
the  Standard  Oil  trust,  can  drag  to  light  disreput- 
able secret  methods  and  agreements  and  thus  do 
much  to  arouse  public  sentiment  to  condemnation  of 
a  concealment  that  hides  unfairness,  just  as  to  make 
diplomacy  open  instead  of  secret  makes  for  its  re- 
form. Just  as  the  old  church  confessional  held  that 
to  confess  is  the  first  step  toward  forsaking  sin,  and 
as  the  new  psychanalytic  cures  rest  on  the  principle 
that  to  get  conscious  of  psychic  defects  tends  to  their 
removal,  so  the  awakening  of  a  community  to  a  sense 
of  the  evils  that  prey  upon  it  is  the  first  step  towards 
its  regeneration.  To  be  really  therapeutic  publicity 
must  be  pitiless.  Nothing  must  be  concealed  and  no 
one  guilty  must  escape.  The  difficulties  here  are  very 
grave;  the  greater  the  abuses,  the  more  elaborate  are 
the  methods  of  protection  and  defense  against  ex- 
posure. In  an  age  and  land  where  eloquence  was 
the  focus  of  all  educational  endeavor  Cicero  taught 
that  the  chief  function  of  the  orator  was  to  see  that 
no  great  and  good  act,  however  private  and  modest, 
went  without  its  meed  of  praise.  He  should  have 
added  that  the  orator  ought  to  allow  nothing  harmful 
to  the  community  to  remain  unknown  and  uncen- 

233 


MOKALE 

sured.  This  should  now  be  the  function  of  the  press, 
the  pulpit,  and  the  teacher  in  these  fields.  Among 
story-  and  playwrights  the  arts  and  devices  of  the  de- 
tective of  crime  have  of  late  given  him  an  uncanny 
and  almost  supernatural  sagacity.  Detectives  of  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  malpractice  are  now  even 
more  needed  and  will  require  yet  greater  powers  of 
insight,  endurance,  and  courage.  We  have  had  many 
government  investigations  and  reports  that  exposed 
underhand  methods  in  different  lines  of  business,  and 
advanced  students  in  the  department  of  economics 
in  many  of  our  universities  have  shed  light  on  many 
practices  in  local  lines  of  business.  But  we  need  and 
shall  sometime  have  bureaus  of  trained  experts  who 
will,  upon  call,  investigate  the  practices  of  corpora- 
tions with  regard  to  fairness  of  profit-making,  as  we 
already  do  of  efficiency,  and  there  will  be  concerns 
that  will  court  and  be  advantaged  by  such  publicity, 
for  it  would  indeed  be  an  advertisement  for  any  good 
firm.  It  is  a  low  state  of  morale  in  a  community  that 
will  long  submit  to  extortion,  as  Americans  are  too 
prone  to  do,  without  even  a  citizens'  committee  to  at- 
tempt their  amelioration.  The  effectiveness  of  the 
publicity-cure  depends,  first,  on  the  tone  and  virility 
of  public  opinion,  and  secondly,  upon  the  sensitive- 
ness of  offenders  to  its  censure.  There  are  those  who 
fear  only  legal  penalties  and  are  unperturbed  by  so- 
cial opprobium  or  even  ostracism,  and  there  is  dan- 
ger that  the  number  of  these  defiant  graspers  is  grow- 
ing and  that  they  are  becoming  bolder.  For  these 

234 


MOEALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

public  condemnation  has  no  terrors  unless  it  costs 
them  customers  and  patronage,  and  that  it  does  so 
every;  community  should  have  the  morale  to  make 
sure.  There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  concerns  that 
have  voluntarily  submitted  themselves  to  such  ex- 
aminations, although  thus  far  this  has  been  done  in 
too  sporadic  and  unorganized  a  way.  Some,  again, 
who  at  first  used  religion  and  ostentatious  charity  as 
a  defense  mechanism  against  the  condemnation  of  the 
community  and  their  own  conscience,  or  as  a  cloak  for 
their  covert  crimes  against  industrial  society,  have 
later  grown  more  amenable  to  public  criticism  and 
not  only  complied  with  its  dictates  outwardly  but 
have  done  so  with  inner  conviction.  Thus  publicity 
has  even  brought  true  regeneration.  Karely  as  this 
has  occurred,  morale  has  sometimes  triumphed  over 
profiteering  under  the  tonic  stimulus  of  publicity. 

2.  Ridicule  in  the  form  of  satire  and  caricature 
and  irony  can  do  something,  as  has  often  been  shown 
in  the  field  of  political  profiteering,  e.  g.,  in  the  classic 
case  of  Nast  and  the  corrupt  Tweed  ring  in  New 
York  City  years  ago.  France  is  most  responsive  to 
this  method,  for  there  a  clever  Tzon  mot  or  cartoon 
has  sometimes  been  an  important  factor  in  even  the 
fall  of  a  minister  and  cabinets.  Here  we  find  some 
rapprochement  between  morals  and  aesthetics,  for 
satire  to  be  effective  must  be  fresh  as  well  as  ap- 
posite. To  represent  the  genus  profiteer  as  an  octo- 
pus, vampire,  hog,  a  masked  holdup  man,  an  enor- 
mously bloated  human  monster;  to  bestialize  por- 

235 


MORALE 

traits  of  money  magnates  or  to  represent  them  behind 
bars  or  in  striped  prison  attire;  to  caricature  the  ex- 
tra.vagances  and  excesses  of  the  worthless  offspring 
or  the  general  preposterousness  of  the  newly  rich — 
all  these  were  once  effective  but  have  lost  most  of 
their  force  because  they  have  become  trite,  and  also 
because  the  victim  himself  has  learned  to  laugh  with 
the  public.  The  real  culprits,  too,  are  usually  direc- 
tors whose  meetings  are  behind  closed  doors  and  their 
proceedings  secret,  and  while  the  great  body  of  stock- 
holders who  simply  cut  coupons  and  pocket  dividends 
are  protected  by  anonymity,  even  executive  heads  act 
under  the  mandate  of  the  "higher-ups,"  who  are  hard 
to  find.  The  laugh  of  derision  must  be  at  somebody, 
and  if  no  object  can  be  found  ridicule  loses  its  point. 
Juvenal's  castigations  did  little  to  check  the  degene- 
ration of  his  day;  Pope's  "Dunciad"  did  alleviate  the 
pest  of  poetasters,  and  "Don  Quixote"  gave  the  final 
coup  de  grace  to  medieval  chivalry;  but  for  us  there 
seems  little  prospect  of  help  from  these  sources.  The 
auri  sacra  fames  is  too  strong  and  its  excesses  too 
tragic  for  wit  or  humor,  and  its  armor  blunts  the 
shafts  of  satire.  It  invites  invectives  rather  than  any 
form  of  derision,  and  even  this  is  likely  now  to  be 
discredited  as  implying  radical  socialism  or  even 
Bolshevism.  A  modern  Juvenal  would  be  thought  an 
advocate  of  the  soviet,  if  not  an  anarchist. 

3.  Portrayals  and  illustrations  of  the  simple  life. 
Of  these  we  have  had  many.  Our  institutions  were 
planned  when  life  was  largely  rural;  intercourse, 

236 


MORALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

trade,  commerce,  and  manufacture,  elemental;  and 
plain  living  and  high  thinking  an  ideal  that  seemed 
well  on  the  way  to  realization.  From  Plato's  Re- 
public down  men  have  dreamed  of  model  states,  com- 
munities, and  Utopias  of  many  kinds,  and  there  have 
also  been  many  spasmodic  attempts  to  set  up  and 
operate  societies  where  the  common  good  was  the  su- 
preme goal  of  each.  Some  of  the  best  novels  of  our 
generation,  too,  have  portrayed  idyllic  pictures  of  so- 
cial conditions  where  individual  good  and  the  motive 
of  personal  gain  were  subordinated  to  the  general 
weal.  Scholars  have  lived  among  the  ignorant,  rich 
men  and  women  among  the  poor,  to  know  and  to  help 
them.  Academic  sociologists  and  economists  have 
often  inculcated  into  their  classes  more  or  less  ran- 
cor against  great  wealth  and  its  methods,  and  stressed 
the  abuses  of  capitalism  until  one  would  think  some 
of  them  were  almost  ready  to  take  the  vow  of  pov- 
erty, in  which  eastern  ascetics  and  medieval  saints 
found  veritable  inspiration  for  service.  Clergymen 
have  felt  and  voiced  the  charm  of  the  simple  life. 
But  wealth  is  phlegmatic  and  its  conscience  greasy 
and  slippery,  so  that  no  painful  friction  is  felt  and 
there  is  no  attrition  of  the  lust  for  pelf.  We  all  have 
schizophrenic  or  split  souls.  We  have  a  warm  side 
for  these  idealities,  at  least  in  a  kind  of  Sunday 
mood,  but  on  Monday,  Mammon  has  us  in  his  clutches 
and  we  lose  the  vision  in  the  practicalities  of  week- 
days. Of  these  two  souls,  which  it  is  the  peculiarity 
of  modern  man  to  have  developed,  one  is  weak  and 

237 


its  primacy  is  only  occasional,  while  the  other  is 
strong  and  habitual  and  there  is  too  often  an  im- 
pervious partition  between  them.  Neither  need  en- 
croach upon  the  domain  of  the  other.  The  grasper 
even  feels  complacency  that  he  can  tolerate  and  per- 
haps even  enjoy  the  portrayal  of  a  line  of  bad  prac- 
tices of  which  he  is  himself  not  incapable  and  which 
are  not  utterly  alien  to  the  main  determinants  of  his 
life.  It  is  only  when  his  ideals  threaten  actual  and 
immediate  harm  to  his  own  material  interest  that  h.e 
condemns  them.  Thus  we  must  conclude  that  all 
such  principles  and  examples  of  high  civic  morale, 
while  they  are  too  valuable  to  be  abandoned,  can 
really  do  but  little  in  such  an  unprecedented  crisis 
as  this  through  which  we  are  now  passing.  Those 
who  think  we  may  arrive  easily  and  imperceptibly  at 
our  economic  and  philanthropic  millennia  do  not  see 
that  we  may  warm  to  them  just  because  and  in  so 
far  as  we  feel  that  they  cannot  be  actualized,  and  our 
sympathy  with  them  we  feel  to  be  a  compensation 
for  not  realizing  them.  Sympathy  here  acts  like  an 
attenuated  virus  or  a  Platonic  catharsis  in  insuring 
immunity.  Thus  we  hear  sermons,  see  plays,  read 
romances,  or  sometimes  communistic  treatises,  and 
even  praise  those  who,  if  they  controlled  our  conduct, 
would  utterly  subvert  our  present  way  of  life.  Such 
individuals  are,  of  course,  developing  a  secondary 
personality  which  may  possibly  some  time  become  the 
dominant  one.  But  this  would  occur  only  under 
great  stress  and  such  conversions  are  rare.  They  are 

238 


MORALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

not,  however,  impossible,  and  we  shall  see  later  how 
this  may  sometimes  occur  and  regenerate  individuals 
and  communities. 

4.  Morale  and  Revolution.  This  to  many  seems 
the  only  way  outside  of  existing  laws  and  courts. 
Some  day  the  masses  will  arise  in  their  might  and 
sweep  away  capital,  privilege,  the  upper  classes,  and 
the  present  economic,  social,  industrial,  legal,  and 
religious  system,  and  usher  in  a  new  dispensation. 
To  the  chief  modern  paradigm  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion is  now  added  the  far  more  effective  and  contem- 
porary achievements  of  Bolshevism  and  the  forcible 
expropriation  of  wealth.  This  proletarian  hope  has 
never  been  so  strong  in  the  world  before.  Very  many 
of  those  not  in  this  movement  have  hitherto  been 
profiteers  in  most  that  men  strive  for.  We  can  hardly 
overestimate  the  force  of  this  appeal  in  the  world  to- 
day or  the  enthusiasm  and  often  the  fanaticism  of  its 
devotees.  Very  few  of  the  wealthy  and  the  cultured 
know  the  force  of  this  appeal.  We  shall  never  be  en- 
tirely overwhelmed  by  this  flood  because  we  are  a  na- 
tion in  which  the  middle  class  predominates,  as  dis- 
tinct from  Russia  where  the  middle  class  was  so 
small  and  impotent,  but  it  is  a  movement  of  such 
psychological  intensity  that  it  will  break  us  if  we 
cannot  bend  and  make  rather  radical  readjustments. 
We  have  simply  to  make  a  better  organized  world. 
WThat  are  the  dictates  of  high  morale  in  this 
emergency? 

First  of  all  we  must  learn,  and  that  sympathetical- 

239 


MOKALE 

ly,  how  life  looks  to  the  poor  and  the  ignorant ;  how 
the  anarchist  really  thinks  and  feels  and  just  what 
he  wants  and  why;  how  the  immigrants  from  many; 
lands  who  have  found  their  way  to  our  shores  differ 
in  their  temperament  and  views  of  life  and  its  work; 
what  these  classes  love  and  hope  for,  and  what  dis- 
tempers infect  their  souls  and  what  parasites  prey 
on  them;  and  wre  must  multiply  every  agency  of  in- 
formation, both  of  ourselves  and  of  enlightenment  on 
his  part.  In  this  intensified  campaign  of  education 
of  him  and  ourselves  we  must  seek  to  give  the  men 
and  women  of  the  masses  better  leadership  and  set 
them  better  examples.  From  this  point  of  view  I  be- 
lieve that  the  censorship  of  our  government  has  been 
mistaken.  Both  my  academic  friends  and  I  have 
tried  in  every  way  to  obtain  and  collect  confiscated 
seditious  literature,  and  the  responses  to  our  appeals 
have  been  often  met  as  if  we  were  propagandists  in- 
stead of  investigators  trying  to  discover  and  help  to 
heal  a  social  disease.  Those  generally  cheaply 
printed  tracts,  leaflets,  journals,  and  pamphlets 
which  we  have  been  able  to  obtain  are  often  seductive 
but  are  easy  to  answer,  even  to  the  lower  level  of  in- 
telligences to  which  they  are  addressed.  But  they 
get  in  their  work,  for  the  most  part,  unchecked,  al- 
though many  of  them  are  utterly  and  radically  un- 
and  anti-American.  The  Americanization  methods 
of  our  schools  rarely  reach  those  who  read  these 
sheets,  and  the  secret  propaganda  of  Bolshevik  ideas 
is  but  little  checked  just  where  it  is  doing  most 

240 


MOEALE  AND  PKOFITEERING 

mischief.  A  true  morale  requires  that  all  these  se- 
ditious and  revolutionary  utterances  be  carefully 
collected  and  studied,  as  we  study  infectious  germs 
or  an  epidemic  in  order  to  develop  effective  therapies 
and  prophylaxes  for  them.  If  such  a  task  were 
definitely  assigned  to  our  academic  teachers  of  soci- 
ology and  economics,  it  would  be  indeed  a  new  and 
important  step  in  safeguarding  our  very  civilization, 
and  perhaps  what  is  more  important,  it  would  in- 
cidentally do  much  to  restrain  and  correct  certain 
radical  tendencies  in  the  same  direction  which  now 
infect  so  many  professors  in  these  fields  by  showing 
them  whither  they  are  tendling.  If  any  of  them 
should  be  thus  converted,  one  back-fire  to  these  aims 
would  be  set.  This  would  have  great  significance 
for  morale,  and  the  very  strength  of  dangerous  opin- 
ions which  require  yet  deeper  studies  to  complete 
them  would  itself  tend  to  secure  us  in  the  way  of 
safety. 

The  Mormons  have  or  had  a  method  of  sending  out 
their  more  thoughtful,  educated  young  men,  especially 
if  they  were  growing  skeptical  of  the  tenets  of  their 
church,  as  missionaries,  and  it  was  found  that  by  thus 
holding  a  brief  for  their  doctrines  and  defending  and 
making  active  propaganda  for  them,  they  almost  al- 
ways succeeded  in  the  end  in  at  least  answering  their 
own  doubts  and  converting  themselves.  If  some  of 
our  younger  sociologists  who  have  radical  leanings 
were  set  the  task  of  making  propaganda  for  such  con- 
servative views  as  they  have  left  against  the  rising  tide 

241 


MOKALE 

of  Bolshevism,  by  studying  and  answering  its  litera- 
ture, the  same  change  for  the  better  might  be  se- 
cured.1 There  is  only  too  much  reason  to  fear  that 
many  of  our  academic  teachers  have  grown  at  heart 
more  radical  than  their  friends  or  even  they  them- 
selves suspect,  but  at  least  we  must  not  forget  that 
they  have,  on  the  other  hand,  done  an  incalculable 
service  against  profiteering,  especially  in  the  way  of 
exposing  corrupt  practices.  While  our  laws  prescribe 
more  or  less  effectively  for  the  safety  of  public  and 
private  health  by  stamping  out  the  germs  of  infectious 
diseases  wherever  they  appear,  our  chief  hope  is  in 
those  laboratories  which  actively  cultivate  these  mor- 
bific germs  to  find  their  antidote,  and  we  need  to 
do  more  to  establish  such  therapeutic  agencies  for 
the  yet  more  deadly  germs  of  anarchism  now  so  active 
in  our  midst. 

While  the  press  in  this  country  is  more  or  less  ef- 
fective and.  to  some  degree  free  from  external  control, 
it  is  nevertheless  rapidly  becoming  more  and  more 
servile  to  its  advertisers.  A  large  part  of  the  revenues 
of  most  of  our  journals  comes  from  this  source,  so 
that  they  have  long  competed  with  each  other  in  low- 
ering the  price  of  their  sheets  in  order  to  extend  their 
circulation,  according  to  which  the  price  of  their  ad- 
vertising is  rated.  It  is  no  secret  that  very  many 
concerns  find  it  expedient  to  lavish  vast  sums  upon 
advertising  which  may  or  may  not  bring  any  great 

'  Paul  Frederick  Brissenden :  The  I.  W.  W.,  A  Study  of  American 
Syndicalism.  N.  Y.,  Columbia  U.,  1919. 

242 


MORALE  AND  PROFITEERING 

increase  of  •customers  but  which  is  so  effective  in  pre- 
venting editorial  attack.  The  threat  of  withdraw- 
ing this  patronage  by  any  large  class  of  advertisers 
is  often  only  too  effective,  and  it  is  sometimes  even 
necessary  to  know  the  chief  sources  of  this  income 
before  we  know  whether  a  paper  will  print  or  decline 
even  an  outside  communication  that  effectively  at- 
tacks them.  If  we  could  only  have  here  and  there  a 
well  endowed  journal  which  would  take  no  advertise- 
ments at  all  and  was  conducted  solely  in  the  interest 
of  public  morale,  with  its  columns  open  to  all  who 
intelligently  sought  to  advance  it,  much  could  be  ac- 
complished here. 

As  it  is,  the  instincts  that  make  for  profiteering 
are  almost  inseparable  from  a  commercial  age,  and 
if  we  analyze  ourselves  conscientiously  and.  careful- 
ly, the  best  of  us  will  probably  find  that  we  have  not 
always  lived  up  to  the  maxim  of  never  accepting  a 
dollar  which  does  not  represent  a  dollar's  worth  of 
real  service. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MORALE    AND    FEMINISM 

woman  suffrage  has  done  so  little — Why  its  leaders  are  BO 
averse  to  the  recognition  of  sex  differences  in  this  age  when  in- 
dividual differences  are  so  studied — Incompleteness  of  women 
without  children — The  results  of  her  inferiority  of  physical 
strength— List  of  sex  differences— Ultimate  goal  of  the  woman 
movement— Secondary  sex  differences  in  psychanalysis— Problems 
to  which  woman  should  address  herself— Marriage  and  divorce. 

The  English  militant  suffragettes  had  the  saving 
common  sense  deliberately  to  suspend  their  campaign 
of  sabotage  when  the  war  came  and  to  spare  the 
world  the  patheticism  of  their  starvation  and  forced 
feeding  in  jails,  and  they  have  now  won  in  Europe  and 
this  country  their  long  fight  for  complete  citizenship. 
Not  only  the  polls  but  nearly  every  vocation  and  all 
the  learned  professions,  educational  opportunities 
everywhere,  and  even  legislative  bodies  and  many  offi- 
cial positions  are  open  to  them.  Woman  now  is 
doubtless  on  the  way  toward  becoming  a  political 
power  that  everyone  seeking  an  elective  office  from 
the  presidency  to  a  position  on  the  school  boards 
must  reckon  with.  It  would  seem  as  if  after  all  the 
reforms  promised  if  women  attained  the  right  to  vote, 
we  should  even  have  a  woman's  party  with  its  own 
distinctive  platform  and  program,  but  there  is  no 
one  yet  who  seriously  proposes  this.  Women  have 
been  a  power  in  many  great  and  good  causes — prohi- 

244 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

bition,  child  labor,  education,  sanitation,  etc. — but 
they  have  done  little  to  elevate  the  tone  of  local  poli- 
tics ;  while  in  the  larger  questions  of  national  or  even 
state  politics  their  influence  has  been  very  little  felt. 
Even  the  social  evil  they  have  done  little  to  mitigate. 
Thus  much  as  woman  has  accomplished  and  much  as 
has  been  done  for  her,  we  find  in  many  quarters  a  feel- 
ing that  she  is  yet  far  from  her  goal,  and  there  is  even 
a  query  abroad  as  to  whether  she  really  knows  what 
she  truly  wants.  It  is  surely  no  longer,  in  the  main, 
equality  of  opportunity  with  man,  which  has  so  long 
been  her  slogan. 

She  cannot  bring  herself  to  relinquish  any  of  the 
old  privileges  of  her  sex  while  claiming  so  many  new 
ones.  Most  of  all,  nearly  all  the  leaders  of  her  sex 
resent  the  one  clear  call  of  the  present  hour  to  go 
back  to  first  principles  and  ask  again  what  are  the 
real  intrinsic  differences  between  man  and  woman. 
.While  recognizing  in  practical  life,  as  she  needs  must, 
all  the  fundamental  differences,  she  evades  in  near- 
ly every  possible  way  all  attempts  to  bring  these 
obvious  differences  into  the  foreground  because  still 
obsessed  by  the  old  fear  that  difference  means  in- 
feriority, rather  than  implying,  as  all  the  best  of  them 
do,  a  distinct  superiority.  In  many  women's  meetings 
I  have  attended  the  topic  of  diversities,  if  not  taboo, 
is  at  least  distasteful.  Even  at  the  International 
Conference  of  Women  Physicians  (New  York,  Sep- 
tember to  October,  1919)  I  was,  I  think,  authorita- 
tively told  that  the  foreign  delegates  welcomed  as  the 

245 


MORALE 

American  women  disapproved  this  theme.  When  in 
1873  Dr.  Edward  Clark  called  attention  to  the  need 
of  monthly  easement  from  strain,  a  storm  of  protest 
arose,  and  in  the  flood  of  answers  he  was  said  to  have 
"insulted  every  woman  in  the  land,"  and  the  need 
which  he  so  clearly  showed  is  even  yet  very  unsatis- 
factorily recognized. 

Women  leaders  especially  in  this  country  have  al- 
ways minimized  innate  sex  differences.  Once  they 
ignored  or  denied  them,  and  now  we  are  told  that 
even  most  of  the  more  obvious  of  them,  such  as  muscu- 
lar inferiority,  have  been  acquired  by  woman's  long 
subjection  to  man  and  will  be  obliterated  in  time  by 
the  new  regime  of  parity.  A  very  accomplished 
woman  medical  expert  now  tells  us  that  type  (in 
this  case  Jung's  distinction  between  introverts  and 
extroverts)  is  a  distinction  superior  to  that  of  sex  and 
supersedes  it,  when  in  fact  it  is  related  to  it  only  in 
the  way  in  which  color,  adiposity,  temperament,  and 
every  other  characteristic  point  of  difference  be- 
tween individuals  is.  In  fact,  this  horror  differenti- 
arum  belongs  to  a  stage  of  the  feministic  movement 
which  has  done  its  work  and  should  be  laid  aside, 
and  in  its  place  we  should  have  a  new  and  almost  op- 
posite ideal.  To  attain  the  new  morale  which  the 
times  now  demand  of  her  sex  woman  is  called  on  to 
find  and  emphasize  every  possible  real  and  certain 
sex  difference  and  to  push  it  to  the  uttermost.  She 
should  now  stand  squarely  upon  the  facts  of  her  sex 
and  strive  to  become  as  truly  feminine  as  man  should 

246 


MOKALE  AND  FEMINISM 

be  virile.  In  place  of  the  old  goal,  then,  of  equality 
and  identity  we  should  place  a  new  ideal  of  differ- 
entiation. As  Hyatt  long  ago  showed,  savage  men 
and  women  are  more  alike  in  form,  feature,  industrial 
efficiency,  including  muscle,  than  under  civilization, 
which  always  and  everywhere  involves  progressive 
differentiation. 

Another  movement  characteristic  of  our  times  em- 
phasizes this  demand.  To-day  we  test  and  measure 
every  kind  of  physical  and  mental  capacity.  The  new 
individual  psychology  seeks  with  all  its  resources  to 
find  the  proprium  of  each  person  and  to  put  each  at 
the  job  for  which  he  is  best  fitted,  no  matter  whether 
by  inherited  or  acquired  traits.  We  are  finding  under 
this  method  enormous  economy,  and  that,  too,  in  the 
most  precious  of  all  the  factors  of  production,  viz,, 
the  human  element.  .We  seek  out  the  peculiarities  of 
age,  race,  constitutional  diathesis,  temperament, 
type,  etc.,  and  strive  to  redefine  and  utilize  them  all 
in  terms  of  happiness  and  efficiency.  We  even  assume 
that  there  is  something,  if  we  can  only  find  it,  in 
which  almost  everyone  can  at  least  relatively  excel, 
and  are  realizing  that  even  great  ability  in  the  wrong 
place  is  doomed  to  failure.  Vocational  guidance  and 
even  health,  sanity,  and  morality  are  involved  in  this 
work.  Sex,  one  of  the  chief  differences  in  the  hu- 
man race,  should  no  longer  claim  exemption  from 
this  survey  and  refuse  to  profit  by  the  incalculable 
advantages  which  its  practical  application  would 
entail. 

247 


MOKALE 

This  is  not  the  place,  nor  am  I  competent  to  enumer- 
ate, least  of  all  in  their  true  perspective,  all  the  dif- 
ferentiae, but  an  attempt  to  tab  off  ever  so  roughly 
a  few  of  the  most  obvious  of  them  may  suggest  some- 
thing of  the  new  morale  that  its  proper  recognition 
will  give  to  the  new  cause  of  woman  in  the  world. 

No  normal  woman  is  complete  without  bearing  and 
rearing  children.  Her  body  and  soul  were  meant  for 
motherhood.  Everything  the  world  adores  in  her 
centers  about  this  function.  By  far  the  largest  part 
of  the  office  of  repopulating  the  world,  in  successive 
generations  rests  mainly  upon  her.  She  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  best  woman  who  produces  and  rears  to  ma- 
turity the  most  and  the  best  children,  and  the  same 
is  of  course  true  of  the  fathers,  although  in  a  far  more 
indirect  way.  Everything  whatever  that  interferes 
with  this  her  supreme  function  is  a  loss  to  the  human 
race.  The  problem  of  national,  racial,  and  individual 
supremacy  bottoms  on  that  of  fecundity  plus  the  con- 
servation of  offspring.  Those  nations  that  excel  here 
will  rule  the  world  in  the  future.  Lecky  thought  the 
Dark  Ages  were  due  to  the  celibacy  of  those  who  were 
potentially  the  :best  parents,  and  if  the  best  women 
now  refuse  for  any  cause  this  function,  they  are  con- 
tributing in  the  same  way  to  retard  the  progress  of 
the  country  and  the  world.  Who  save  the  modern 
woman  of  the  old  regime,  who  fought  the  long  and 
bitter  war  of  sex  against  sex,  ignores  this,  and  who  of 
the  most  insightful  of  us  all  yet  recognizes  all  the 
practical  implications  of  this  most  obvious  of  first 

248 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

principles  in  this  field.  Even  the  exemption  of 
women  from  labor  during  later  pregnancy  and  early 
lactation  has  gone  but  a  little  way. 

Although  men  and  women  have  each  all  the  essen- 
tial traits  of  the  other,  the  "fashion-plate,"  "Gibson 
girl"  is  no  less  a  monstrosity  than  the  feminized 
male,  and  everything  that  tends  to  reapproximation 
is  not  in  the  interests  of  true  progress  as  seen  in  the 
larger  light  of  biology.  Hence  the  ideal  of  those 
feminists  who  claim  everything  that  man  has,  would 
do  everything  that  he  does,  in  his  way,  and  because 
he  does  it,  must  be  radically  modified.  Woman's  na- 
ture and  needs  must  be  reformulated,  and  she  must 
recognize  that  many  of  those  very  qualities  which,  she 
has  hitherto  kept  in  abeyance  and  suppressed,  because 
they  differentiated  her  from  man,  should  be  activated. 
Only  by  doing  this  in  the  industrial,  social,  domestic, 
intellectual,  and  even  marital  relations  can  she  jus- 
tify all  the  great  new  opportunities  which  are  now 
opening  to  her  throughout  the  world.  The  problem 
of  "What  next?"  for  her,  therefore,  requires  a  new 
and  more  advanced  program  for  the  future,  since 
much  as  she  has  won  of  late,  these  achievements  are 
only  prolegomena  and  she  is  still  far  from  her  ulti- 
mate goal.  All  that  she  has  accomplished  represents 
only  the  preparatory  stages  of  the  struggle  to  attain 
what  she  really  wants. 

There  is  already  a  vast  mass  of  data, — experiment 
al,  historical,  sociological,  economic,  anthropological, 
and  biological, — and  such  a  maze  of  opinions  and  an 

249 


MORALE 

all-pervasive  bias,  conscious  and  unconscious,  even 
among  experts,  that  the  attempt  to  find  a  consensus 
as  to  real  sex  differences  and  tab  off  its  items  may 
seem,  curiously  enough,  at  the  same  time  both  over- 
bold and  commonplace. 

Woman  certainly  has  less  physical  strength  than 
man.  The  war  has  shown  this  for  she  has  not  fought 
in  the  trenches.  Botchkareva1  was  herself  a  prodigy 
of  valor  and  endurance  but  her  "Battalion  of 
Death"  was  depleted  to  one-fourth,  not  by  battle  but 
by  the  inherent  unfitnesses  of  her  sex  for  warfare, 
which  is  the  field  par  excellence  for  Adler's  "manly 
protest."  She  faces  death  in  most  of  its  forms  more 
heroically  than  man  but  not  mutilation.  Physical 
training  improves  her  no  less,  but  her  ideal  is  not 
that  of  a  Hercules.  The  very  fact  that  she  is  inferior 
in  muscular  power  has  made  her  turn  to  subtlety, 
persuasion,  and  moral  force  for  attaining  her  ends, 
which  are  more  spiritual.  As  by  her  tact,  insight, 
and  altruistic  devotion  to  offspring  she  tamed  and 
domesticated  savage  man,  so  now  by  these  same  quali- 
ties, more  enlightened,  resourceful,  and  concerted, 
she  faces  the  greater  task  of  purging  modern  society 
of  its  gross  selfishness,  for  this  is  the  root  of  all  our 
evils — political,  industrial,  social  and  moral.  Per- 
haps nowhere  are  virile  qualities  more  stimulated 
than  in  warfare;  nowhere  do  men  get  so  close  to- 
gether as  in  the  camp  and  trench.  Despite  woman's 
disapproval  of  war  it  is  just  these  qualities  that  are 

1  Maria  Botchkareva :  TasHJca,  My  Life  as  Peasant,  Officer  and 
Eeile,  N.  Y.f  Stokes,  1919. 

250 


most  attractive  to  her.  She  not  only  abhors  the 
slacker  (and  whoever  heard  of  a  hero  of  romance  who 
was  not  athletic!)  but  instinctively  encourages  war 
by  her  worship  of  the  uniform  because  it  is  a  symbol 
of  man's  power  to  protect  defenseless  motherhood 
and  childhood.  In  this  way  she  more  or  less  offsets 
her  work  for  peace.  Nothing  is  thus  more  obvious 
than  the  fact  that  in  all  those  forms  of  physical  labor 
that  involve  the  larger  fundamental  muscles — dig- 
ging, most  of  the  activities  of  farming,  lumbering, 
road-making,  transportation  by  sea  and  land,  build- 
ing, fisheries, — and  the  severer  forms  of  athletics,  she 
cannot  compete  with  man,  and  because  of  her  func- 
tions in  transmitting  life,  the  industries  she  enters 
should  require  less  uniformity,  to  which  her  nature 
submits  with  more  danger. 

A  volume  would  not  suffice  to  describe  the  differ- 
ences of  the  sexes  at  every  stage  and  in  every  condi- 
tion of  life.  There  is  little  clear  difference  in  the 
acuity  of  the  senses,  reaction  and  association  time, 
memory,  or  class  rank  in  all  academic  grades  (in 
which,  indeed,  she  is  often  superior  to  the  male,  so 
that  she  has  abundantly  justified  her  right  to  the 
higher  education  everywhere).  She  distinctly  excels 
man  in  color  perception  and  appreciation.  The  whole 
world  of  flowers  and.  even  plant  forms  have  a  message 
for  her  that  man  knows  not  of.  They  are  often  given 
half-human  characteristics  and  perhaps  embody  dis- 
tinct moral  qualities.  Woman  is  better  oriented  in 
her  immediate  environment,  and  less  likely  to  be  in- 

251 


MOKALE 

formed  about  things  that  are  afar  in  time  and  space 
and  do  not  immediately  concern  her.  She  also  pre- 
sentifles  more  and  better  than  man,  that  is,  sees 
everything  in  terms  of  the  here  and  now.  She  under- 
stands other  women  better  than  man  understands 
other  men, and  judges  and  measures  man  by  different 
standards  from  those  which  he  applies  to  his  fellow- 
men.  She  is  vastly  more  altruistic.  Her  love  is  more 
absorbing  and  its  loss  less  consolable.  Her  religious 
instincts  are  far  stronger.  Her  moods  are  more  vari- 
able and  periodically  conditioned.  Her  emotional 
nature  is  richer,  deeper,  stronger,  and  it  is  in  this  do- 
main now  just  beginning  to  reveal  its  secrets  to  psy- 
chology that  the  mainsprings  of  life,  health,  success, 
and  failure  are  found.  While  we  know  much  of  the 
adolescent  boy,  the  adolescent  girl  is  still  one  of  the 
great  mysteries.  She  matures  earlier  and  passes  her 
prime  sooner,  but  seems  on  the  whole  to  live  a  little 
longer.  She  needs  more  time  for  both  her  toilet  and 
regimen.  As  a  girl  she  plays  different  games;  pre- 
fers different  pets ;  submits  best  to  school  discipline 
and  authority;  has  less  power  to  organize;  is  more 
plastic  and  adaptable  and  less  often  punished  in 
school;  is  far  more  conscientious  about  tasks  and 
"flunks"  less;  has  a  larger  vocabulary  in  early  life; 
prefers  and  excels  in  language,  literature,  and  the  hu- 
manities rather  than  in  the  more  exact  physical  sci- 
ences, while  in  biology  and  chemistry  she  is  more 
drawn  to  applications  to  life  rather  than  to  pure  sci- 
ence; she  prefers  the  concrete  to  the  abstract  and  is 

252 


MOKALE  AND  FEMINISM 

more  interested  in  persons  than  in  ideas.  Women 
graduates  marry  by  much  less  percentage  than  male 
graduates.  She  knows  and  teaches  young  children 
far  better  than  man  does.  She  suffers  vastly  more 
during  both  pubertal  and  adolescent  years  from  re- 
pressions, is  held  in  check  by  far  more  conventional 
and  social  taboos  of  both  conduct  and  expression,  and 
is  more  a  slave  to  fashion.  She  is  more  liable  to  cer- 
tain and  less  so  to  other  diseases,  in  many  of  which 
there  are  complications  peculiar  to  her  sex.  She  en- 
dures most  surgical  operations  better  than  man  and 
dreads  them  less.  Her  sex  has  furnished  the  great 
majority  of  the  complex  and  interesting  cases  upon 
which  psychanalysis  is  based,  and  this  because  of  her 
more  exuberant,  emotional,  and  imaginative  life.  She 
has  gathered  most  of  the  original  data  of  paidology, 
although  man  has  done  most  in  the  way  of  writing  it 
up  and  systematizing  it.  At  all  ages  she  meets  death 
with  more  resignation  and  suffers  less  from  fear  of  it. 
If  she  commits  suicide,  it  is  by  different  methods  and 
for  different  causes.  Woman's  offenses  against  the 
criminal  law,  too,  differ  radically  from  those  of  man. 
The  same  is  true  of  her  social  activities.  Marriage 
involves  far  more  change  in  her  inner  and  outer  life 
than  it  does  for  man,  and  is  far  more  fateful  either 
for  weal  or  woe.  Like  man  ^he  is  sexed  in  very  dif- 
ferent degress,  the  excess  in  Tier  tending  to  masochism 
as  in  him  it  does  to  sadism.  Her  self-consciousness 
takes  a  very  different  form.  She  is  more  intuitive 
and  man  is  more  logical.  Her  sex  instincts  are  more 

253 


MOKALE 

rhythmic,  less  fulminating,  with  far  wider  psychic 
irradiations,  and  she  also  has  far  more  power  of  both 
sublimation  and  repression. 

Now,  even  these  differences  are  inadequately  rec- 
ognized. Their  implications  are  manifold,  and  the 
practical  application  of  them  would  involve  social, 
industrial,  and  educational  readjustments  of  a  far- 
reaching  nature,  which  if  made  would  greatly  en- 
hance the  efficiency  of  our  civilization.  If  woman 
would  now  reinterpret  herself  and  her  environment 
more  or  less  according  to  her  nature  and  needs,  she 
could  realize  many  possibilities  now  open  which  have 
never  been  within  reach  before,  the  doors  of  which 
will  soon  be  closed  if  they  are  not  entered  now. 

The  ultimate  goal  of  the  whole  feminist  movement 
is  more  independence,  initiative,  and  control  by 
woman  over  her  reproductive  and  domestic  life.  As- 
suming that  everything  is  right  or  wrong  that  is  so 
biologically  and  sociologically  (which,  by  the  way,  is 
one  of  the  most  pregnant  postulates  of  our  times  in 
its  new  quest  for  first  principles),  we  may  say  that  it 
is  both  the  right  and  duty  of  every  woman  to  mate  and 
bear  and  rear  children,  to  do  this  without  stigma,  and 
to  be  sheltered  and  protected  while  doing  it.  Always, 
and  especially  more  when  the  world  needs  repopu- 
lation,  to  refuse  this  function,  if  it  can  be  performed 
under  tolerably  normal  conditions,  is  not  only  recre- 
ancy but  is  akin  to  desertion.  Moreover,  it  is  a  dwarf- 
ing and  a  perversion  of  Nature's  intent.  This,  too,  is 
the  call  of  patriotism  and  religion.  Selfishness,  fas- 

254 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

tidiousness,  or  timidity  are  no  more  excuses  than  they 
are  for  slackerdom  in  war,  and  to  face  these  obstacles 
is  woman's  perpetual  call  to  heroism. 

Highly  cultured  mothers  often  hesitate  long  before 
enlisting  in  this  war  against  the  race  suicide  of  the 
best.  If  they  venture  upon  motherhood,  it  is  but  for 
once  or  perhaps  with  the  motto  Uno  sed  leo,  with  the 
excuse  that  their  culture  enables  them  to  develop 
their  offspring  so  much  more  than  the  common 
mother  can  do,  that  what  is  lacking  in  its  number  can 
be  made  up  by  its  quality.  It  is  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  such  who  are  liable  to  be  handicapped  later  by 
an  aggravated  mother-complex,  from  which  more  neg- 
lect, wise  or  even  unwise,  would  have  saved  them. 
Nurture  can  never  compensate  for  that  most  ancient 
and  precious  of  all  worths,  heredity.  The  only 
child,  especially  of  such  over-careful  parentage,  spe- 
cial studies  show  to  be  peculiar  and  almost  always  a 
little  warped  and  spoiled  by  overattention.2 

Here,  too,  we  face  the  problem  of  birth  control  and 
contraceptive  methods,  diffusion  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  which  so  many  eminent  men,  led  perhaps  by 
the  committee  of  one  hundred  prominent  American 
women,  have  of  late  actively  espoused,  although  to 
diffuse  these  methods  is  still  a  crime  in  the  statute 
books  of  many  of  our  states.  It  is  of  course  pathetic 
that  so  many  wives  now  bear  children  when  they  are 
unfit  or  more  than  they  can  endow  with  health  or  de- 

*  E.  W.  Bohannon :  A  Study  of  Peculiar  and  Exceptional  Children, 
IV,  3  Fed.  Sem.,  Oct.,  1896 ;  and  The  Only  Child  in  a  Family,  V.  475, 
Ibid,  April,  1898. 

255 


MORALE 

cently  provide  for.  While  preventions  of  some  usu- 
ally traditional  kind  are  known  and  used  everywhere, 
even  among  savage  tribes,  there  is  a  large  section  of 
society,  generally  the  lowest  and  most  prolific,  that 
knows  them  not,  at  least  practically.  These  methods 
of  course  offer  a  safeguard  against  the  results  of  ille- 
gitimate intercourse  and  may  thus  tend  to  increase  it. 
Surely  physicians  should  have  the  right  to  prescribe 
them,  but  there  is  great  reason  to  doubt  whether  the 
universal  diffusion  of  this  knowledge  would  be  in 
the  interests  of  true  human  stirpiculture.  We  are 
very  far  from  being  able  yet  to  breed  men  as  we  breed 
cattle.  To  achieve  this  end  we  must  perhaps  some- 
time use  contraception,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  we 
are  yet  near  enough  to  the  goal  to  make  any  general 
propaganda  of  this  mode  of  bettering  humanity  either 
safe  or  wise.  But  this,  again,  is  on  the  whole  more  a 
woman's  problem  than  it  is  a  man's. 

But  we  must  go  deeper  yet  to  find  the  taproot  of 
the  in>tersex  problem.  Some  two-thirds  of  Darwin's 
epoch-making  "The  Descent  of  Man"  are  devoted  to 
secondary  sexual  characters  and  traits.  By  this  he 
means  sex  differences  other  than  those  of  the  sex  or- 
gans and  their  functions,  which  are  primary.  In 
chapters  crowded  with  facts  he  traces  secondary  sex 
differences  in  insects,  fishes,  lower  and  higher  verte- 
brates, including  birds,  and  finally  man.  There  are 
differences  in  form  sometimes  amounting  to  dimor- 
phism; there  are  also  differences  in  color,  stridula- 
tion,  voice,  hair,  strength,  all  the  organs  of  conflict, 

256 


MOKALE  AND  FEMINISM 

and  a  host  of  others. .  In  a  sense,  too,  flowers  and  the 
many  devices  of  plants  for  securing  cross  fertilization 
belong  here.  There  are  also  differences  in  behavior, 
showing  off,  ornamentation  for  allurement,  etc.  Proof 
that  all  these  structures  and  functions  are  connected 
with  sex  is  shown  not  only  by  the  r61e  they  play  in 
the  life  of  the  various  species  but  Dy  the  fact  that 
they  develop  at  sex  maturity  and  decline  with 
senescence. 

As  we  go  up  the  scale,  the  male  seems  to  win  more 
by  using  these  secondary  qualities,  even  pugnacity, 
as  a  method  of  charming  rather  than  forcing  the  fe- 
male, and  even  if  he  has  a  mate  for  the  season  he  must 
win  her  anew  at  every  approach  for  there  is  no  mar- 
riage among  animals  in  the  sense  that  there  is  but 
one  courtship  and  once  winning  is  followed  by  sub- 
jection ever  after. 

Now  modern  psych  analysis  has  greatly  extended 
our  knowledge  of  these  secondary  sex  qualities  in  the 
human  species  and  shown  them  to  be  a  far  larger  fac- 
tor in  life  than  we  had  supposed.  It  shows  us  that 
many  of  the  highest  human  qualities — moral,  re- 
ligious, aesthetic,  social — in  short  that  happiness, 
health,  and  success  in  life  generally  are  dependent  to 
a  degree  we  never  dreamed  of  upon  the  normality  of 
the  vita  sexualis.  It  has  also  shown  us  that  the  sex 
instinct  is  the  most  plastic,  educable,  polymorphic, 
and  transformable  of  all  things  in  human  nature,  that 
its  regimen  conditions  far  more  than  we  had  dreamed 
of  in  human  life,  and  that  its  perversions  are  the 

257 


MORALE 

worst  and  its  sublimations  and  spiritualizations  the 
best  things  in  man's  world.  As  Darwin  shocked  the 
conservatives  of  his  time  by  showing  the  great  role 
that  secondary  traits  have  played  in  all  the  stages  of 
animal  evolution,  so  the  psychanalysts  of  to-day  are 
showing  the  pervasiveness  and  dominance  of  second- 
ary psychic  sex  qualities  in  hygiene,  art,  religion,  lit- 
erature, the  formation  of  character,  the  determina- 
tion of  sanity  and  insanity,  and  in  the  production  of 
genius,  so  that  to  many  sex  in  its  larger  sense  now 
seems  the  chief  source  of  human  energy  and  efficiency. 
These  studies,  along  with  the  hardly  less  important 
researches  of  the  so-called  Pawlow  school  on  the  con- 
ditional reflex,  have  now  given  a  tremendous  ree'n- 
forcement  to  the  old  saw  that  love  and  hunger  rule 
the  world.  They  are  also  showing  that  from  a  bio- 
logical point  of  view  man  is  sexually  aberrant  in  that 
in  him  alone  mating  has  become  an  end  in  itself  and 
is  vastly  in  excess  of  the  needs  of  procreation.  This 
was  the  mystic  fall  of  man.  It  was  caused  or  exag- 
gerated by  three  very  important  facts:  (1)  the  devel- 
opment of  the  hand  and  its  possible  misuse;  (2)  the 
erect  position,  which  made  impregnation  less  certain ; 
and  (3)  the  use  of  clothing  and  fire,  which  made  an 
instinct  that  had  been  seasonal  active  throughout  the 
year. 

But  the  new  dispensation  of  love  seeks  redemption 
and  would  turn  this  curse  into  a  blessing.  To  this 
very  excess  of  sex  energy,  because  it  is  so  metamor- 
phic,  man  owes  much  of  his  higher  development  and 

258 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

many  of  his  greatest  achievements,  and  our  problem 
now  is  to  advance  this  process  more  consciously  since 
we  are  coming  to  understand  it  so  much  better.  It 
is  most  significant  and  fortunate  that  this  new  insight 
coincides  with  the  great  advance  in  the  influence  of 
woman  in  the  world. 

Now,  the  chief  factor  in  the  long-circuiting  subli- 
mation or  irradiation  of  the  sex  impulse,  not  only  into 
Darwin's  secondary  sex  qualities  but  also  into  the 
higher  cultural  field,  has  been  the  hesitation  or 
reluctance  of  the  female.  If  she  had  wooed  and 
made  the  advances,  or  even  been  won  too  easily,  the 
sex  impulse  would  have  been  short-circuited  and 
the  higher  qualities  would  never  have  been  developed. 
In  the  larger  sense  courtship  is  not  merely  the  formal, 
conventional  process  society  in  different  ages  and 
climes  prescribes,  but  it  consists  in  making  oneself 
as  fit  as  possible  to  pass  successfully  the  incessant 
examination  to  which  the  nubile  female  is  always  sub- 
jecting every  nubile  man  in  her  environment.  To  fill 
and  satisfy  thus  woman's  ideal  is  the  acme  of  morale 
in  this  field.  Thus  in  a  sense  Miss  Gamble  is  right 
in  saying  that  woman  has  made  man  by  giving  him 
his  best  qualities  by  her  coyness  and  resistance.  A 
humble  missionary's  son  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the 
British  colonial  possessions  fell  in  love  with  the 
daughter  of  the  governor  of  the  province,  who  did  not 
reciprocate  his  advances.  He  resolved  to  make  him- 
self worthy,  and  so  went  home,  studied,  worked,  and 
rose  until  he  finally  was  himself  appointed  governor 

259 


MORALE 

— all  to  win  the  girl  who  made  him,  which  he  did. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  all  the  great 
deeds,  noble  qualities,  monumental  works  in  every 
field  of  art  and  literature  which  men  have 
achieved  under  the  inspiration  of  women,  and 
this  is  the  larger  psychogenetic  function  of  court- 
ship. Some  girls  even  develop  ideal  lovers  (for 
a  salient  illustration  of  which  see  the  romantic 
and  anonymous  story  "Whispering  Dust"),  and  may 
be  so  fortunate  as  to  find  their  ideal  embodied  in  some 
man.  If  not,  they  have  to  make  compromises  with 
their  ideal  which  are  sometimes  tragic  unless  the  man 
of  their  choice  can  develop  toward  the  realization  of 
their  dreams.  Something  of  this  sort  all  wooing 
seeks  more  or  less  to  achieve,  and  to  stimulate  it  is 
one  of  the  chief  prerogatives  of  woman.  The  girl  who 
goes  in  to  win  at  any  price  and  allows  liberties  in  her 
competition  is  thus  recreant  to  one  of  the  chief  func- 
tions of  her  sex,  and  the  wife  who  favors  or  permits 
marital  approaches  without  a  preliminary  flushing 
up  of  these  higher  secondary  sex  qualities  in  her  mate 
lowers  the  standards  wliich  it  is  the  prime  function 
of  her  sex  to  keep  high.  Not  only  this,  but  the  pre- 
liminary activation  of  these  higher  powers  must  in 
some  way  we  do  not  yet  fully  understand  mobilize 
more  of  the  pangens,  ids,  determinants,  or  other  vital 
units  essential  for  giving  the  offspring  the  full  benefit 
of  the  higher  heredity.  Surely  those  conceived  in  this 
way  must  be  better  endowed  by  Nature  than  those 
conceived  in  sudden,  brutish  passion. 

260 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

What  we  need  to-day,  then,  is  to  know  more  about 
the  higher  equivalents  of  sex,  just  as  we  are  seeking 
substitutes  for  war  and  drink,  and  it  is  fortunate  for 
the  world  that  we  are  just  now  finding  more  of  these 
psycho-kinetic  surrogates,  proxies,  and  vicariates  for 
it.  It  was  out  of  superfluous  reproductive  energy 
that  Nature  evolved  all  the  Darwinian  secondary  sex 
qualities,  and  now  we  must  find  and  utilize  the  irra- 
diations of  this  basal  instinct  that  are  necessary  for 
the  next  upward  step  of  human  culture. 

The  dangers  as  well  as  the  possibilities  here  are 
many  and  great,  because  the  arousal  of  the  proxy 
function  may  stimulate  instead  of  vent  or  vicariate 
for  the  primary.  While  we  do  understand  much  of 
the  uses  of  physical  culture  here,  it  is  much  less 
realized  that  almost  any  and  every  kind  of  affectivity, 
using  this  term  in  the  broadest  sense  to  include  the 
feelings,  sentiments,  emotions,  and  even  moods  and 
passions,  liave  this  function.  These  higher  traits  and 
functions  of  mind  and  body  are  all  erethic  and  ex- 
citable. Youth  particularly  needs  spells  of  excita- 
tion. It  must  tingle,  glow,  increase  blood  pressure, 
and  to  do  this  in  a  way  and  in  directions  that  develop 
the  higher  powers  of  man  helps  on  their  transmissi- 
bility.  Wherever,  for  instance,  in  school,  monotony, 
routine,  and  lifeless  methods  prevail,  we  are  laying 
the  basis  for  a  low-level  erogenous  excitement,  be- 
cause if  legitimate  interests  are  not  aroused, theyoung 
are  prone  to  seek  excitement  in  forbidden  ways.  In 
industry,  too,  mechanical,  uniform,  and  uninterest- 

261 


MORALE 

ing  processes  fail  to  provide  for  this  need,  which  if 
left  to  itself  so  strongly  tends  to  lapse  to  evil  ways. 
We  are  happily  now  learning  that  more  and  more  of 
our  real  life  consists  of  affectivities,  and  wherever  we 
can  substitute  interest  and  zest  of  any  kind  or  of  any 
degree  for  dull,  mechanical  processes,  we  are  setting 
a  back-fire  to  these  temptations.  Thus  sports,  games, 
interest  in  machines,  art,  social  activities,  and  any- 
thing into  which  the  young  can  throw  themselves  with 
abandon  serve  not  only  as  moral  preventatives  and 
prophylatics,  but  they  also  make  these  very  qualities 
more  accessible  to  heredity.  Thus  the  more  monotony 
in  physical  or  educational  work,  the  greater  the  need 
of  arousing  and  absorbing  recreations. 

Involved  in  all  this  is  the  general  principle  that  it 
is  possible  for  the  individual  to  draw  upon  the  accu- 
mulated energies  of  the  race  that  slumber  in  him,  and 
here  there  opens  before  us  a  new  problem  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  future,  not  only  in  the  sense  of  schooling 
but  for  the  regimentation  of  social  and  individual 
life.  Many  if  not  most  of  the  great  steps  upward 
that  man  has  taken  in  the  course  of  his  civilization — 
the  great  books,  works  of  art,  architecture,  reforms, 
inventions  and  discoveries,  victories  in  war — have 
been  made  by  those  who  were  more  or  less  in  a  state 
of  super-excitement,  when  they  were  really  exercis- 
ing the  higher  powers  of  man,  which  can  only  be  done 
by  calling  upon  the  vast  stores  of  racial  energy  laid 
up  in  us  all,  and  without  the  adequate  expression  of 
which  most  live  out  all  their  lives.  It  adds  something 

262 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

to  know,  as  we  now  do,  the  glands  which  must  be 
aroused  to  exceptional  activity  as  a  physiological  con- 
dition of  this  state,  so  that  some  now  speak  of  the 
"adrenalin  type"  of  man  and  of  work.  In  the  army 
we  found  those  who  having  marched,  fought,  gone 
without  sleep  or  food  until  they  seemed  to  be  "all  in," 
rather  suddenly  found  themselves  reenforced  by  a 
power  not  themselves,  so  that  they  made  a  great  rally 
and  performed  what  seemed  not  only  to  others  but 
to  themselves  prodigies  of  valor  and  effort, — these 
men  often  being  those  who  in  their  lives  before  had 
given  least  indications  of  such  reserves.  Part  of  the 
education  of  the  future,  therefore,  must  be  to  teach 
each  man  a  ready  way  of  drawing  upon  these  reserve 
powers  to  meet  emergencies.  This  abandon  to  super- 
individual  energy  not  only  has  power  to  abate  but  it 
may  even  go  far  toward  suppression  of  the  sex  im- 
pulse, as  celibates,  anchorets,  hermits,  and  saints  have 
shown  us.  Indeed  it  is  possible  to  overdraw  our  ac- 
count at  this  great  bank  of  heredity,  so  that,  to  use 
Spencer's  phrase,  individuation  subordinates  the  pow- 
ers of  genesis.  It  is  not  mystics  alone  but  also  great 
geniuses  and  even  great  warriors  who  have  thus  given 
to  mankind  energies  that  were  meant  for  posterity. 
Exercise  in  thus  mobilizing  the  higher  powers  of  man 
is  necessary  for  the  most  effective  hereditary  trans- 
mission, and  is  a  kind  of  rehearsal  in  exaggerated  and 
specialized  form  of  the  arousals  which  should  always 
precede  the  act  of  transmission  itself.  A  word  of 
caution,  however,  is  necessary  here.  It  is  possible  for 

263 


MORALE 

man,  and  still  more  so  for  woman,  to  overdraw  his  or 
her  vital  genetic  energies  in  these  ways  of  diversion. 
Especially  is  this  true  for  refined,  cultivated,  and 
conscientious  girls. 

The  problem  of  finding  and  using  these  higher  sub- 
stitutes is  essential  for  the  progress  of  civilization. 
Aristotle  first  glimpsed  it  in  his  doctrine  of  catharsis, 
and  homeopathy  later  applied  it  to  medicine  with  the 
maxim  similia  similibus  curantur,  and  since  Jenner 
discovered  vaccination  and  especially  since  Pasteur, 
it  has  opened  to  us  the  great  field  of  immunity  by  an 
attenuated  virus.  As  pain  and  rage  were  vented 
homeopathically  by  seeing  these  passions  represented 
on  the  stage  in  tragedy,  and  the  spectator  was  after- 
ward for  a  time  safeguarded  against  yielding  to  them 
in  the  shock  and  strain  of  real  life;  as  chicken-pox 
gives  immunity  from  small-pox ;  so  psychology  is  now 
seeking  a  prophylactic  against  not  only  war  and  drink 
but  venery  by  finding  more  harmless  vents  for  these 
instincts.  Ultra-pacifism  cannot  eliminate  the  fight- 
ing instinct;  prohibition  and  teetotalism  cannot  de- 
stroy man's  proclivity  for  inebriation;  and  celibacy 
cannot  eradicate  the  sex  instinct.  All  these  propen- 
sities are  too  deeply  rooted  in  human  nature  ever  to 
be  eliminated.  Hence,  these  negative  methods  are  so 
crude  and  drastic,  that  we  must  seek  higher  and  bet- 
ter methods  in  which  the  substitute  will  not  prove  a 
provocative.  Religion,  which  is  one  of  the  world's 
chief  agents  for  sublimating  sex,  has  always  tended 
•more  or  less  not  only  in  ancient  orgies  but  also  in 

264 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

the  history  of  great  revivals  to  lapse  into  grossness. 

Dancing  properly  conditioned  is  one  of  the  very 
best  and  most  morally  hygienic  of  all  amusements, 
but  uncontrolled  it  is  full  of  jeopardy  for  body  and 
soul.  We  must  not,  then,  taboo  but  rather  safeguard 
it.  Once  it  was  the  highest  expression  of  the  religious 
instinct.  Such  is  its  charm  that  the  young  must  and 
will  dance,  and  while  it  may  lapse  to  pure  vicious- 
ness,  it  is  capable  of  sublimation  that  would  make  it 
a  valuable  accessory  in  every  church  parlor.  The 
same  might  be  said  of  the  movies,  of  boxing  bouts, 
pool,  billiards,  etc.,  especially  in  these  days  when 
labor  is  more  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  ennui  and 
monotony  and  fuller  of  unrest  than  ever  before.  Since 
the  excitements  of  the  war  have  died  down,  and  es- 
pecially since  the  laborer  has  lost  his  tipple,  he  seeks 
compensation  not  in  the  circuses,  as  in  ancient  Rome, 
but  in  crude  and  crass  recreations  and  in  strikes, 
where  the  war  spirit  and  fever  will  not  die  out,  so 
that  the  danger  of  lapsing  to  low-level  pleasures  was 
never  so  great. 

The  ultimate  quest  of  woman,  then,  is  for  the  final 
decision  in  all  matters  connected  with  her  reproduc- 
tive function.  This  the  female  has  in  nearly  every; 
known  species  of  animal  and  in  the  best  primitive 
races  of  the  past  and  the  ascendant  savages  of  to-day. 
The  loss  or  abdication  of  this  most  precious  of  all 
woman's  rights  is  the  root  of  nearly  all  she  now  suf- 
fers from.  What  she  should  do  to-day  is  to  reassert 
and  magnify  her  function  of  sexual  selection.  This 

265 


MORALE 

does  not  necessarily  involve  any  more  initiative  In 
the  old  leap-year  custom.  Science  has  shown  us  that 
woman's  love  conforms  best  to  the  great  biologic  and 
psychologic  law  of  complementation  and  this  fits  her 
best  to  select  the  other  parent  for  her  children.  Her 
love,  too,  is  more  conformable  than  man's  more  sud- 
den passion  to  the  interests  of  posterity,  and  is  thus 
more  eugenic  and  less  selfish.  Here  the  leaders  of  her 
sex  should  exercise  the  greatest  sagacity  and  also 
boldness,  for  they  stand  before  a  long-closed  door 
which  is  just  now  open  but  will  soon  close  again  un- 
less she  enters  it  while  she  can. 

Here  we  face  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  of  all 
problems,  that  of  the  marriage  bed,  itself  a  source  of 
so  much  supreme  weal  and  woe  in  life.  Mrs.  Stopes  in 
her  "Married  Love"  has  spoken  the  boldest,  truest, 
and  sanest  word  so  far  accessible  in  print  which  all, 
not  only  the  newly-wed  but  those  about  to  wed  and 
perhaps  especially  husbands,  should  read  and  ponder. 
Every  approach  should  be  a  new  courtship  in  the 
sense  above  suggested,  both  alike  consenting  in  the 
end.  This  is  woman's  way,  of  which  most  husbands 
know  little  and  into  which  they  should  be  ini- 
tiated. Thus  and  only  thus  can  the  human  male  be 
given  immunity  from  his  polygamous  instincts,  by 
realizing  on  how  low  a  level  his  habitual  satisfaction 
has  been  sought  and  how  vastly  higher  and  larger  a 
gratification  that  is  really  sacramental  can  be.  The 
wife  who  sinks  to  be  the  mere  instrument  of  her  hus- 
band's self-abuse  abandons  the  highest  prerogative 

266 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

of  her  sex  and  predisposes  him  sooner  or  later  to  seek 
novelty  elsewhere.  All  that  constitutes  home  and  all 
the  concourse  of  domestic  life,  the  charm  of  wives 
who  can  restrain  and  then  wisely  bring  their  spouse 
to  a  consummation  that  so  compensates  for  infre- 
quency,  is  nearing  the  great  goal  and  is  giving  wedded 
life  its  larger  orbit.  How  the  world  needs  again  the 
wisdom  of  matrons,  the  counsel  of  Plato's  wise  senes- 
cent women,  the  need  of  which  has  long  been  felt  but 
sometimes  ignorantly  branded  as  weird  and  even 
witchlike !  There  is  a  greater  joy  in  married  life  than 
most  at  least  of  our  sex  have  ever  dreamed  of.  We 
have  been  content  to  live  on  a  lower  plane,  and  if 
there  is  anything  that  the  new  psychanalysis  reveals 
more  plainly  than  anything  else,  it  is  that  so  many 
of  the  catastrophes,  hygienic,  moral,  industrial,  and 
even  financial  that  befall  men  and  women,  are  due 
to  perversions  and  distortions  of  this  function.  When 
a  true  morale  has  done  its  work  here,  the  ultimate 
goal  of  feminism,  which  is  nothing  less  than  redemp- 
tion from  the  mystic  fall  of  man,  will  be  attained,  the 
effectiveness  of  heredity  progressively  advanced,  and 
the  way  will  be  open  to  the  solution  of  the  many  sub- 
sidiary questions. 

The  rapidly  and  ominously  growing  problem  of  the 
unwed  mother,  which  some  of  the  noblest  women  of 
continental  Europe  have  so  boldly  grappled  with, 
leaders  here  have  been  afraid  of.  Shall  she  be  nursed 
through  the  ordeal  privately  in  some  institution  for 
that  purpose,  abandon  her  offspring  in  a  home  for 

267 


MOKALE 

foundlings,  from  which  they  would  later  be  placed 
and  supervised  in  some  of  the  million  childless  homes 
of  this  country,  and  then  return  to  the  world  sore  in 
heart  but  seemingly  as  if  nothing  had  happened? 
This  practice  is  more  Catholic  than  Protestant  and 
there  is  much  to  be  said  for  it.  Some  urge  that  the 
men  about  to  marry  such  a  woman  later  should  know ; 
others,  that  he  should  not.  Under  both  theories  such 
"physiological  widows"  have  afterwards  made  as 
happy  marriages  as  have  those  whom  death  rather 
than  betrayal  has  bereft.  How  false  to  life  is  the  sen- 
timent still  often  fostered  by  romance  that  woman  can 
truly  love  but  once  or  that  those  thus  victimized  have 
necessarily  really  and  permanently  lost  their  virtue! 
As  to  divorce,  in  this  country  there  are  far  more  di- 
vorce courts  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  The 
ratio  of  divorces  to  marriages  has  steadily  increased, 
until  now  from  one-eighth  to  one-tenth  of  all  mar- 
riages end  in  divorce,  women  securing  them  about 
twice  as  often  as  men.  S.  B.  Kitchin  (in  his  "A  His- 
tory of  Divorce")  tells  us  that  the  spirit  of  English 
divorce  laws  is  still  that  of  the  age  of  the  Inquisition 
when  they  were  made,  and  Catholics  still  forbid  it.  In 
this  country  each  state  has  its  own  divorce  laws,  and 
there  is  as  great  diversity  as  to  causes  and  proced- 
ure among  the  different  states  as  there  is  in  the  age 
of  consent,  the  punishments  for  bastardy,  methods  of 
dealing  with  prostitution  and  venereal  disease,  ob- 
scene literature,  the  interpretation  and  enforcement 
of  the  Mann  law,  etc.  If  both  parties  really  want  it 

268 


MORALE  AND  FEMINISM 

and  can  agree  upon  its  terms,  why  should  not  that 
suffice,  and  why  should  there  be  any  social  censure, 
still  less  scandal  or  public  procedure?  If  there  are 
no  children  and  no  property,  permanent  separation 
by  mutual  consent  should  be  simple  and  easy,  and 
even  if  the  custody  of  children  and  the  property  ad- 
justments are  arranged  to  the  satisfaction  of  both 
parties,  why  should  court  proceedings  be  necessary 
for  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage  tie?  With  some 
safeguards  against  intimidation  or  coercion  what 
more  is  needed?  In  fact  the  sacramental  idea  of  mar- 
riage has  almost  everywhere  .given  place  to  the 
contractual  view,  and  the  Church  has  sanctioned 
many  a  union  of  those  whom  God  never  joined. 
The  Church  makes  no  investigation  of  any  kind  of 
fitness  for  marriage,  not  even  medical,  but  performs 
its  function  upon  all  mature  persons  who  present 
themselves,  and  why  should  not  the  same  kind  of 
mutual  agreement  also  sanction  the  way  out  by  the 
same  token,  without  too  prying  scrutiny  into  reasons? 
Courts  have  their  place  only  when  there  is  divergence 
of  view  and  wish  concerning  annulment  or  its  condi- 
tions, but  even  here  simplification  is  greatly  needed. 
Again,  not  only  do  current  methods  and  prejudices 
keep  many  really  alienated  couples  outwardly  to- 
gether because  of  the  excruciating  publicity  involved 
in  legal  proceedings  for  separation,  and  not  only  does 
the  dread  often  make  one  or  both  parties  condone  ob- 
vious infidelity  in  the  other,  but  it  sometimes  presents 
to  the  community  the  ghastly  spectacle  of  a  wedded 

269 


MORALE 

pair  living  together  and  keeping  up  the  pretenses  be- 
fore others  of  marital  devotion  when  love  has  fled  or 
perhaps  gone  over  to  its  ambivalent  opposite,  mutual 
repulsion  and  even  aversion.  War,  too,  always  in- 
creases infidelity  and  also  divorces.  Conceding  noth- 
ing to  any  such  wild  vagaries  as  trial  marriages,  is  it 
not  plain  that  if  divorce  is  made  easy  and  respectable, 
it  would  not  only  tend  to  keep  each  contracting  party 
on  his  good  behavior  but  would  also  bring  to  each 
the  constant  realization  that  the  other  is  not  so  indis- 
solubly  bound  that  neglect  or  alienation  of  affection 
would  not  naturally  involve  permanent  separation? 
The  god  of  Love  puts  some  who  have  voluntarily 
joined  themselves  asunder,  and  why  should  man  in- 
terfere with  the  execution  of  this  divine  will?  Is  not 
this  whole  subject  now  so  beset  with  difficulties,  in- 
consistencies, insincerities,  and  contradictions  be- 
tween theory  and  practice  that  both  our  ideas  and 
sentiments  need  radical  revision?  Is  not  this  subject, 
too,  from  its  very  nature  one  which  woman  should 
now  squarely  put  up  to  herself?  She  is  generally 
most  concerned,  and  she  ought  now  to  do  far  more 
toward  solving  the  problem  than  she  has  in  the  past. 
Would  not  her  refusal  to  do  so  be  craven  flight  from 
the  new  reality  which  faces  her,  a  kind  of  desertion 
or  slackerdom?  Neither  conscience  nor  the  sense  of 
honor,  hitherto  the  chief  tribunals  of  human  conduct, 
has  so  far  found  a  way  out,  and  so  we  must  make  an 
appeal  to  the  new  and  higher  tribunal  of  morale,  the 
establishment  of  which  we  owe  to  the  war. 

270 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MORALE    AND    EDUCATION 

War  activities  in  schools  including  pre-military  training— A  paido- 
versus  a  scholio-centric  system — The  trend  from  culture  to 
Kultur  and  how  to  check  it — The  rehumanization  of  the  classics — 
The  humanistic  side  of  science — Modifications  needed  in  history 
and  sociology — Education  and  psychology  living  in  a  pre-evolu- 
tionary  age — Religious,  medical,  and  legal  training — Faculty  and 
school-board  reforms. 

.While  we  can  hardly  accuse  our  educational  system 
as  a  Whole  of  having  a  low  morale,  there  is  no  factor 
of  our  "new  European"  civilization  that  would  profit 
more  by  a  higher  tone  of  its  morale  than  our  entire 
system  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university  and 
the  academy  of  sciences.  The  war  caused  great 
changes  in  nearly  every  school  topic  and  grade,  and 
we  had  campaigns,  liberty  loan,  thrift  and  other 
drives  galore.  For  food  production  fit  boys  were  re- 
leased for  farm  work,  even  terms  were  shortened,  and 
twelve  million  children  attempted  to  make  home 
gardens.  There  were  competitions,  prizes,  canning 
clubs,  junior  Bed  Cross  work,  school  savings  banks, 
collections  for  French  orphans,  correspondence  with 
Belgian  children  and  those  of  our  allies ;  the  enforce- 
ment of  attendance  laws  was  relaxed  that  children 
might  earn  or  take  the  place  of  their  drafted  elders ; 
there  was  much  teaching  of  patriotism,  many  new 
laws,  pre-military  and  even  military  training,  and 

271 


MORALE 

standards  suffered.  In  his  comprehensive  survey  P. 
Ling1  tells  us  that  of  all  the  school  subjects  the  teach- 
ing of  history  was  most  modified  in  both  content  and 
method.  Next  came  geography,  then  civics,  then 
English  composition  and  reading;  in  fact  there  was 
hardly  any  topic  in  the  curriculum  that  was  not  more 
or  less  modified. 

In  those  city  systems  that  went  the  limit  a  very 
large  part  of  the  entire  time  and  energy  of  the  pupils 
was  consumed  by  these  new  activities.  In  the  field  of 
science  in  high  school,  college,  and  university  more 
stress  was  laid  upon  practical  applications,  and 
many  teachers  and  professors  were  either  called 
away  or  else  assigned  definite  war  problems.  The  de- 
partments most  affected  in  this  way  were  chemistry, 
physics,  economics,  and  psychology,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred teachers  of  the  latter  being  employed  in  testing 
soldiers,  in  personnel  and  other  work,  some  of  whom 
will  probably  never  return  to  pure  science  and  many 
never  to  teaching.  Some  half  a  million  in  all  of  those 
who  were  seeking  the  higher  education  became  sol- 
diers, while  a  division  of  the  Student  Army  Training 
Corps  was  established  in  practically  every  college 
and  university. 

Unlike  the  French  and  especially  the  Germans,  the 
prospects  of  the  war  had  had  very  slight  influence  in 
this  domain  until  the  war  was  actually  upon  us,  and 
its  emergencies  had  to  be  met  by  extemporized  meth- 

1  Public  Schools  and  the  War,  159,  Clark  University  dissertation, 
1919. 

272 


MORALE  AND  EDUCATION 

ods.  Since  the  sudden  close  of  the  conflict  there  has 
been,  on  the  one  hand,  a  strong  conservative  trend  to 
settle  back  everywhere  to  the  old  ways,  while  on  the 
other  hand  many  reformers,  more  or  less  radical, 
have  seen  their  opportunity  and  have  urged  reform 
upon  us.  The  breaking  up  of  old  routine  here  as  every- 
where brings  the  "psychological  moment"  with  its 
endless  possibilities  of  improvement.  Chief  among  the 
changes  needed,  urged,  or  probable — at  any  rate  pos- 
sible— and  necessary  for  higher  morale  here  are  the 
following,  beginning  at  the  bottom  of  the  system : 

1.  The  kindergarten  and  lower  grades  must  be 
more  paido-  and  less  scholio-centric.  The  nature  and 
needs  of  the  child,  mental  and  physical,  should  deter- 
mine everything.  To  that  end  we  must  know  more  of 
children,  with  whom  this  country  with  its  million 
childless  homes  has  lost  touch  more  than  any  other 
in  the  world  in  the  present  or  the  past,  although 
promising  advances  in  this  direction  were  well  under 
way  when  the  war  came.  This  is  true  humanism  here. 
The  literature  of  paidology,  however,  which  is  now 
very  copious,  has  nowhere  yet  found  adequate  appli- 
cation or  even  unified  literary  presentation  for  the 
normal1  as  it  has  for  the  abnormal  child.* 

We  have  partially  recognized  the  instinct  of  play 
but  less  so  the  necessity  of  purely  mechanical  drill 
more  or  less  during  the  quadrennium  from  eight  to 
twelve,  habituation,  memory,  and  discipline  having 

1  See,  however,  Maria  Montessori's  Pedagogical  Anthropology, 
N.  Y.,  1918. 

3  Henry  H.  Goddard :  Psychology  of  the  Normal  and  Subnormal, 
N.  Y.,  Dodd,  Mead,  1919. 

273 


MOKALE 

then  their  nascent  period.  We  have  not,  however,  save 
in  the  Junior  High  School  or  in  the  "Six-Three-Three" 
system  recognized  the  important  changes  that  make 
puberty  so  epochful,  and  some  of  our  would-be  peda- 
gogical leaders  have  even  failed  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  interest  is  to  education  what  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  to  the  ancient  church,  and  that  all  structures 
built  on  any  other  foundation,  save  those  that  must 
be  mechanized  like  reading,  writing,  numbers,  etc., 
are  too  loose  and  unsubstantial  to  bear  the  strain  of 
the  traffic  of  life.  The  body  and  soul  of  the  growing 
child  are  the  most  precious  and  also  the  most  plastic 
things  in  the  world,  and  all  ultimate  values  are  meas- 
ured by  the  one  criterion  of  how  much  they  contrib- 
ute to  bringing  the  rising  generation  to  an  ever  fuller 
maturity.  The  value  of  elementary  education  is  not 
so  much  what  it  inculcates  as  the  strength  and  many- 
sidedness  of  the  interests  developed  in  the  child  when 
the  period  of  compulsory  education  ends. 

2.  The  war  has  done  more  to  develop  technology  than 
pure  science,  and  has  tended  in  many  minds  to  invert 
the  order  formerly  insisted  on,  which  was  pure  science 
first  and  then  its  applications,  so  that  many  now 
believe  that  our  curriculum  should  pay  far  more 
attention  in  the  early  stages  of  every  science  to 
its  application,  reserving  its  purer  forms  and  the 
ideals  of  invention,  discovery,  research,  and  creative 
scholarship  to  those  elite  minds  that  reach  the  most 
advanced  stages  of  scholastic  development.  The  dan- 
ger of  Kultur  at  the  expense  of  or  in  place  of  cul- 

274 


MORALE  AND  EDUCATION 

ture  has  stimulated  conservatives  to  insist  upon  re- 
version to  the  old  studies,  but  has  found  perhaps 
even  more  effective  expression  in  the  new  sense  that 
all  kinds  of  applications  of  human  knowledge  to  the 
conquest  and  subordination  of  nature  to  man's  con- 
trol have  in  themselves  possibilities  of  true  culture 
that  have  not  vet  been  adequately  evoked.  One  of 
the  most  certain  and  universal  results  of  the  war,  as 
already  expresed  in  nearly  all  the  allied  countries, 
has  been  to  prolong  by  two,  three,  or  even  four  years 
the  period  of  attendance  by  continuation  courses,  and 
there  is  a  new  desire  for  vocational  efficiency  and  a 
new  appreciation  of  its  value,  as  seen  in  the  increased 
number  of  evening  classes  and  perhaps  yet  more 
clearly  in  the  very  significant  corporation  schools. 
When  we  add  to  this  the  strong  tendency  to  study 
each  individual  and  to  assign  him  to  just  that  place 
in  a  big  industrial  establishment  where  he  can  be  of 
most  value  to  himself  and  the  firm,  wre  can  realize  to 
some  extent  the  magnitude  of  the  problems  now  open- 
ing to  the  higher  pedagogy.  The  efficiency  system, 
accounting,  and  the  development  of  experts  Who  ex- 
amine, test,  and  report  upon  not  only  city  and  state 
school  systems  but  industrial  establishments  and 
methods,  have  opened  still  another  vista  which  sug- 
gests that  all  the  processes  of  production  will  be  an- 
alyzed and  many  of  them  made  far  more  economic  of 
human  effort.  Man  now  commands  so  many  of  the 
tremendous  forces  of  nature  that  the  demand  made 
not  only  upon  his  energies  but  upon  his  morality  to 

275 


MORALE 

see  that  these  are  utilized  for  good  and  not  for  harm 
or  destruction  is  far  greater  than  ever  before.  Nearly 
all  the  seventeen  thousand  trades  in  the  census  have 
educational  possibilities,  very  few  of  which  are  yet 
developed  and  still  less  curricularized. 

3.  On  the  other  hand,  the  spirit  of  loyalty,  devo- 
tion, and  heroism,  the  teamwork  and  subordination, 
the  close  comradeship  and  soldierly  spirit  of  the  bat- 
tle-line developed  in  the  army  itself  must  not  be  lost, 
because  these  when  transferred  to  civic,  economic, 
and  social  life  constitute  the  very  choicest  elements 
of  morale  in  peace.  This  chivalric  spirit  and  senti- 
ment of  honor,  which  is  the  very  best  product  of  mili- 
tary life,  should  be  made  to  pervade  the  community, 
and  if  it  could  only  once  be  brought  to  leaven  indus- 
try, it  would  do  more  than  anything  else  to  purge 
away  its  evils  and  insure  us  against  its  dangers. 

More  specifically,  the  educational  morale  suggested 
by  the  war  should  work  in  some  of  the  following  di- 
rections : — 

(a)  Classics  should  be  humanized.  We  may  well 
grant  all  the  culture  claims  of  the  ultra-Latinists  for 
this  subject  provided  they  can  so  modify  their  meth- 
ods as  to  bring  their  students  into  living  contact  with 
the  best  things  in  ancient  Roman  life  and  letters, 
and  put  substance,  meaning,  and  spirit  ahead  of  phi- 
lology and  grammatical  drill.  Their  classrooms  need 
more  pictorial  illustrations  and  models,  and  such 
concrete  contact  with  the  lives  of  those  who  spoke  a 
language  now  dead  as  is  illustrated  in  the  Latin  Mu- 

27G 


MOKALE  AND  EDUCATION 

seum  brought  by  and  bought  from  Germany  at  the 
St.  Louis  Exposition.  There  should  be  far  more  use 
of  English  translations,  more  focalization  upon  sub- 
ject matter,  meaning,  spirit,  or  story  roots  than  upon 
arid  verbiage.  True,  we  do  not  need  Latin  in  the 
sense  that  the  French  do,  whose  very  tongue  is  a  de- 
rivative of  that  language ;  nor  as  the  Germans  do,  as 
it  so  remarkably  complements  and  supplements  their 
own.  The  truly  humanistic  should  thus  be  placed 
even  ahead  of  the  disciplinary  values  so  often  over- 
stressed.  In  this  way  the  spirit  of  the  classical  age 
might  really  be  caught,  and  in  place  of  the  wretched 
and  smattering  results  of  a  two  or  four  years'  course 
in  these  subjects  we  might  secure  some  of  the  cultural 
effects  so  commonly  claimed.  In  this  way  we  should 
advance  true  paidism  and  extend  real  democracy 
even  to  our  school  children,  not  omitting  Dressur  and 
the  spirit  of  obedience  and  discipline,  which  is  another 
of  the  war  lessons. 

So  in  English  and  foreign  modern  tongues  litera- 
ture must  take  precedence  over  language.  Our  pu- 
pils must  be  brought  into  fresh,  living  contact  with  a 
larger  variety  of  carefully  selected  material  which 
should  approximate  the  idea  of  a  secular  or  school 
Bible,  and  studies  here  should  be  extensive  as  well  aa 
intensive.  Interest  in  all  foreign  languages,  as  well 
as  English  itself,  should  be  developed  by  wider 
knowledge  of  story  roots  of  the  great  authors  and  the 
conditions  under  which  they  write  and  which  they 
express,  for  modern  languages,  even  German,  will  be 


MORALE 

not  less  but  more  necessary  henceforth,  and  we  must 
give  no  quarter  to  the  jingoistic  policy  that  would 
banish  German  from  our  schools  but  rather  take  the 
broader  view  of  our  German  enemies  who  insist  that 
English  needs  to  be  studied  there  now  more  than  ever 
before.  Not  to  do  this  is  to  make  further  sacrifices 
on  the  altar  of  the  Moloch,  Kultur. 

(b)  As  to  sciences,  we  must  give  Biology  greater 
prominence  and  lay  chief  stress  for  beginners  on  its 
practical  applications  in  the  great  fields  of  hygiene, 
regimen,  and  body-keeping  generally;  second,  on  its 
economic  value  as  a  preventative  of  waste,  insect 
pests  alone  destroying,  we  are  told,  a  billion  dollars' 
worth  of  crops  each  year  here ;  and,  thirdly,  we  must 
show  its  connections  with  heredity  and  eugenics, 
topics  which  can  no  longer  be  left  uncultivated.  As 
to  Physics  and  Chemistry,  both  have  their  humanistic 
side,  which  might  he  brought  out  by  glances  at  the 
lives  of  the  great  creators  of  these  sciences  and  also 
at  the  innumerable  applications  from  toys  up  to  the 
latest  marvels  of  mechanical  invention.  These  are 
pedagogic  modes  of  approach  to  the  severer  and  per- 
haps more  mathematical  and  purely  abstract  aspects. 
Many  industries  are  becoming  more  and  more  com- 
pletely dependent  upon  these  sciences,  particularly 
chemistry.  If  in  addition  to  this  we  could  teach  the 
elements  of  Astronomy  for  its  sublimity  and  spirit  of 
uplift,  and  of  Geology  and  Paleontology  and  Anthro- 
pology to  show  the  developmental  stages  of  man,  and 
thus  escape  one  of  the  very  gravest  pedagogic  handi- 

278 


MORALE  AND  EDUCATION) 

caps  of  our  age,  viz.,  the  prejudice  which  makes  so 
many  of  our  high  school  and  even  college  graduates 
finish  their  academic  training  with  no  conception  of 
the  tremendous  uplift  which  a  sympathetic  knowledge 
of  evolution  gives,  we  should  have  a  genuine  mental 
enfranchisement. 

(c)'  As  to  more  humanistic  studies,  History,  since 
it  culminates  in  the  events  of  the  last  few  years, 
might  now  perhaps  with  some  advantage  begin  here 
and  work  backward,  for  it  is  no  less  logical  to  go  from 
effect  to  cause  than  vice  versa,  and  we  should  have 
in  the  end  the  same  sense  of  sequence.  It  should  also 
be  taught  practically  and  in  close  relation  to  civics 
as  well  a,s  to  physical  geography,  and  should  stress 
patriotism,  not  in  a  chauvinistic  but  catholic  way, 
and  above  all  we  should  remember  that,  especially  in 
the  lower  grades,  it  is  the  moral  traits  and  possibili- 
ties that  are  by  far  the  most  important  here,  for  just 
in  proportion  as  history  is  seen  in  a  long  and  wide 
perspective,  we  see  it  dominated  from  first  to  last, 
hardly  less  than  the  Old  Testament  itself,  by  ethical 
forces. 

As  to  Psychology,  which  now  faces  a  great  and  for 
it  a  new  danger  of  becoming  merely  ancillary  to  busi- 
ness and  industry  by  grading  and  fitting  intelligence 
to  the  innumerable  grooves  of  our  complex  industrial 
life,  we  should  not  forget  that  it  is  per  se  the  very 
quintessence  of  humanism.  The  world  is  what  human 
nature  has  made  it.  It  is  the  soul  that  education 
seeks  to  develop  and  religion  seeks  to  save.  As  op- 

279 


MOEALE 

posed  to  behaviorism  versus  introspection,  geneticism 
is  now  opening  a  great  middle  highway,  as  is  seen  in 
the  new  anthropology,  paidology,  the  Russian  food 
psychology,  and  in  psychanalysis,  which  began  as  a 
medical  aid  and  is  now  fast  becoming  an  all-embrac- 
ing culture  school  affecting  methods  in  history,  art, 
sociology,  economics,  and  religion,  as  well  as  giving 
us  for  the  first  time  a  new  and  evolutionary  concep- 
tion of  the  human  soul,  and  which  has  already  shown 
present-day  psychologists  that  most  of  them  have 
been  living  in  a  pre-evolutionary  age. 

Economics  and  Sociology,  too,  not  only  have  new 
and  wider  fields  and  louder  calls  for  practical  studies, 
but  the  theories  of  property,  of  trade  and  exchange, 
of  labor  and  capital,  of  even  family  and  domestic  life 
must  be  reformulated.  The  prejudices  in  some  quar- 
ters still  cherished  against  these  sciences  as  either 
narrow  or  doctrinaire  are  fast  being  overcome,  and 
men  are  having  a  new  conception  of  what  the  very 
social  or  gregarious  instinct,  and  all  the  forms  of  hu- 
man association  that  it  prompts,  really  means  and 
can  do. 

(d)  Religion  is  cryingly  in  need  of  a  new  dispen- 
sation. Countless  clergymen  at  the  front  have  seen 
the  limitations  of  the  old  creeds  and  of  even  certain 
forms  of  service,  and  have  found  new  ideals  and  pos- 
tulated reforms  of  a  far-reaching  nature.  The  school, 
which  hitherto  had  dealt  with  this  problem  in  the 
rather  cheap  though  in  its  time  very  effective  method 
of  secularization,  must  now  find  some  way  of  bring- 

280 


MOBALE  AND  EDUCATION 

ing  back  the  religious  spirit  into  our  system  of  public 
as  well  as  private  education.  The  abatement  of  sects 
and  their  intolerance,  and  more  mutual  understand- 
ing and  comradeship,  which  the  war  has  stimulated, 
must  now  find  other  expressions  of  the  very  essence 
of  religion,  which  is  love  and  service  of  God  and  man, 
so  that  the  school,  which  everywhere  began  as  an  out- 
growth of  the  religious  sentiment,  shall  be  able  to 
utilize  it  again.  Whatever  cultivated  adults  may 
think  of  religion,  its  formulations  of  transcendentali- 
ties  will  forever  be  of  the  greatest  value  to  growing 
minds,  and  that  we  have  no  widespread  and  strong 
effort  to  bring  in  the  new  dispensation  that  is  pos- 
sible here,  and  which  France  has  seemed  well  on  the 
way  to  realizing  even  before  the  war,  shows  that  we 
have  not  risen  to  one  of  the  very  highest  of  all  the  de- 
mands of  the  new  morale. 

The  medical  and  legal  professions  have  an  ethical 
code  which,  if  too  flagrantly  violated,  may  lead  to  de- 
barring from  practice  or  at  least  from  the  association. 
These  are  meant  to  keep  up  morale,  and  the  Hippo- 
cratic  oath  appeals  more  to  the  sense  of  honor  than 
to  that  of  duty.  Indeed  the  maintenance  of  stand- 
ards for  all  degrees,  even  those  that  are  honorary,  is 
a  matter  of  morale  for  institutions  conferring  them. 
The  moral  tone  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning, 
and  even  of  secret  college  fraternities,  differs  very 
greatly,  as  is  seen  in  the  licet  and  non  licet  sentiment 
of  student  graduate  opinion.  In  southern  colleges 
the  appeal  to  honor,  even  in  such  matters  as  cheating 

281 


MORALE 

at  examinations,  lias  proved  more  effective  than  in 
northern  institutions,  due  to  the  old  cavalier  chivalry 
which  can  do  what  the  vestiges  of  the  Puritan  con- 
science in  the  North  and  East  cannot  do.  Each  in- 
stitution tends  to  develop  a  spirit  peculiar  to  itself, 
something  too  intangible  to  be  accessible  to  any  aca- 
demic survey,  and  rarely  defined  but  very  effective, 
e.  g.,  in  the  loyalty  of  the  alumni. 

Research,  too,  has  its  own  morale,  which  requires 
full  acknowledgment  of  the  work  of  others,  whether 
rivals,  assistants,  or  even  students,  and  a  gentlemanly 
tone  of  criticism.  The  professor  who  is  also  an  in- 
vestigator and  who  would  train  others  to  advance 
the  boundaries  of  knowledge,  should  have  no  reserva- 
tions from  his  advanced  fellows  and  should  not  make 
them  merely  ancillary  to  his  own  work,  as  has  been 
so  common  in  German  universities.  He  must  nurse 
them  along  and  realize  that  to-day  the  higher  educa- 
tion is  complete  for  no  one  until  his  mind  has  been 
set  into  independent  activity  and  he  has  striven  with 
all  his  might  to  contribute  something,  trivial  though 
it  be,  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge.  In  some  topic, 
whatever  it  may  be,  he  must  feel  that  he  is  a  master 
and  an  authority,  that  he  can  really  teach  anyone, 
and  this  will  make  him  more  docile  to  the  contribu- 
tions of  others  in  our  modern  expert-ruled  world.  One 
experience  of  submitting  a  new  thesis  to  the  consensus 
of  the  competent  often  marks  the  end  of  apprentice- 
ship and  the  beginning  of  mastership.  It  is  a  kind  of 
royal  accolade.  It  is  like  the  first  taste  of  blood  to 

282 


MOEALE  AND  EDUCATION 

a  young  tiger.  It  is  the  acme  of  democracy,  at  once 
the  culmination  and  the  palladium  of  individuality, 
and  makes  the  student  a  citizen  in  the  world  of  sa- 
vants. 

Faculties,  too,  must  be  democratized  at  the  ex- 
pense, whenever  necessary,  of  the  power  of  presidents 
and  deans.  Their  members  should  control  all  inter- 
nal affairs  that  pertain  to  how  and  what  to  teach, 
standards,  degrees,  etc.,  and  academic  freedom  should 
be  limited  only  by  the  present  and  prospective  service 
of  the  institution  to  the  community. 

As  to  control,  every  school-board  must  be  kept  as 
pure  from  every  suspicion  of  party  politics  as  from 
jobbery  and  corruption.  The  superintendent  must  be 
given  complete  authority  in  every  item  of  methods 
and  internal  organization,  the  planning  of  buildings, 
the  engagement  and  even  discharge  of  teachers,  etc. 
In  all  these  things  he  must  be  an  expert  recognized 
and  trusted  as  such.  Boards  should  be  small  and 
elected  by  the  people  at  large  instead  of  by  wards.  All 
public  academic  control  must  also  be  non-sectarian 
but  approved,  and  even  denominational  institutions 
may  share  in  the  public  funds.  In  the  old  Eastern 
endowed  and  also  in  the  state  colleges  and  universi- 
ties the  body  of  alumni  should  be  represented  on  the 
Board,  and  current  methods  of  "drives"  for  funds, 
which  now  sometimes  almost  amount  to  extortion  and 
hold-ups,  should  be  mitigated,  and  executives  should 
be  relieved  of  the  duty  of  excessive  beggary  and  be 
able  to  wear  their  hats  on  their  heads,  and  not  be 

283 


obliged  to  stand  in  the  market  place  with  them  in 
their  hands.  Trustees  should  never  meddle  with  in- 
ternal matters,  even  of  organization,  any  more  than 
presidents  should  invade  departments,  and  the  teach- 
ing staff  should  have  trustee  representation.  Trav- 
eling agents  and  drummers  of  students,  too  flagrant 
advertising,  and.  competitive  bidding  and  over-bid- 
dings for  Fellows  are  not  compatible  with  the  highest 
morale  or  with  academic  dignity  or  self-respect.  Bach- 
elors seeking  higher  degrees  should  not  sell  them- 
selves to  the  highest  bidder  but  should  be  sympa- 
thetically encouraged  to  weigh  and  compare  not  only 
the  merit  of  each  institution  and  its  general  fitness 
to  supply  what  they  need,  but  to  evaluate  the  reputa- 
tion of  individual  professors,  which  should  count  for 
so  much  but  in  fact  counts  for  so  little  in  such 
choices. 

All  knowledge  whatever  originated  in  practical 
needs.  It  grew  only  because  and  so  far  as  it  was  use- 
ful. This  the  history  of  each  science  and  of  culture 
in  general  abundantly  shows,  and  so  does  the  logic 
of  psychogenesis.  Helmholtz  said  in  substance  that 
all  of  our  real  knowledge  of  any  object,  e.  g.,  a  chair, 
if  analyzed,  consists  of  nothing  whatever  but  an 
ensemble  of  actual  or  posssible  uses  of  it,  and  Kant 
made  such  basal  concepts  and  postulates  as  even 
those  of  God,  freedom,  and  soul  undemonstrable  by 
themselves  but  superior  to  the  categories  of  pure  rea- 
son because  they  work  so  well,  for  working  well  is  the 
supreme  test  not  only  of  all  hypotheses  but  of  all 

284 


MOKALE  AND  EDUCATION 

ideas.  Accepting  this  pragmatism,  all  tliat  we  call 
pure  or  abstract  knowledge  only  seems  so  to  us  be- 
cause the  services  it  was  evolved  to  perform  are  no 
longer  needed  or  better  done  otherwise,  that  is,  be- 
cause we  have  forgotten  the  history  of  culture. 

All  these  branches  of  learning  that  have  no  prac* 
tical  application  now  once  had  or  they  would  never 
have  arisen.  Without  this  they  are  vestigial.  All 
their  so-called  liberal  culture  value,  which  is  often 
very  great,  is  simply  recapitulatory,  giving  the  stu- 
dent a  larger  repertory  of  the  successive  mental  at- 
titudes of  the  soul  as  the  individual  rushes  up  the 
phyletic  ladder  which  the  race  has  so  slowly  and  la- 
boriously climbed.  It  also  helps  to  knit  the  manifold 
constellations  that  compose  the  soul  of  the  individual 
into  a  unity  against  all  the  dissociative  tendencies  of 
modern  life. 

But  always  and  everywhere  all  knowledge  that  is 
useless  is  dead,  and  hence  all  educational  institu- 
tions and  methods,  indispensable  as  they  are,  must  be 
a  little  falsetto  and  unreal  compared  with  the  teach- 
ings of  the  great  school  of  lifo,  success  in  which  is  the 
supreme  test  as  well  as  the  origin  of  all  intellectual 
content  and  values.  Mere  learning,  especially  when 
cloistered  with  a  minimum  of  usefulness,  may  be- 
come a  psychological  monstrosity  and  be  evolved  at 
the  expense  of  service  and  bring  progressive  paraly- 
sis of  social  efficiency.  Kennen,  kdnnen,  thun,  Char- 
akter  are  the  four  stages  of  true  wisdom. 

Now  it  is  in  this  field  of  conduct  that  this  dispro- 

285 


MOKALE 

portion  between  knowing  and  doing  is  greatest.  None 
of  us  lives  up  to  our  knowledge  even  in  such  matters 
as  diet,  regimen,  sex,  and  personal  hygiene  generally. 
The  same  is  true  in  individual,  social,  civic,  and  re- 
ligious life.  In  these  domains  dead  knowledge  most 
abounds,  and  if  all  lived  up  to  their  highest  insights 
and  realized  all  the  good  intentions  they  feel  instead 
of  letting  them  pave  hell,  the  world  would  take  a  great 
step  forward  in  the  pathway  of  regeneration.  It  is 
true  everywhere  but  most  of  all  here  that  as  under 
the  principles  of  the  new  charity,  which  has  become 
a  science  as  well  as  a  virtue,  we  have  no  right  to  give 
doles  to  beggars  unless  we  can  rely  upon  some  agency 
that  sees  to  it  that  our  gift  does  the  recipient  good 
and  not  harm,  so  we  have  no  right  to  impart  knowl- 
edge unless  we  have  some  effective  method  of  assur- 
ance that  the  learning  we  teach  will  seep  down  into 
the  heart  and  touch  disposition,  and  predispose  those 
who  acquire  it  to  use  its  power  for  good  rather  than 
for  evil.  The  ancient  sophists  taught  that  knowing 
virtue  was  halfway  to  its  achievement,  and  that  to  sin 
knowingly  was  better  than  to  sin  ignorantly.  Chris- 
tianity teaches  exactly  the  reverse.  Thus  in  a  sense 
it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  study  ethics  and  to  try  to 
teach  virtue,  which  so  many  men  of  ancient  Greece 
thought  could  not  be  done  because  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  high  ideals  of  a  conscience  thus  enlight- 
ened and  daily  life  is  all  the  greater.  This  danger 
was  well  illustrated  in  the  report  of  the  French  Com- 
mission on  the  teaching  of  civics  and  morals  in  the 

286 


MOKALE  AND  EDUCATION 

upper  grades  of  the  Lycee,  wherein  it  was  set  forth 
that  the  best  class  work  in  the  study  of  the  texts  on 
this  subject  and  also  the  best  theses  in  this  field  were 
by  no  means  the  work  of  the  best  but  often  of  the 
worst  boys.  If  we  only  had  a  means  of  reducing  back 
to  primeval  ignorance  those  who  make  a  bad  use  of 
knowledge,  society  would  be  vastly  benefited.  This 
is  uniquely  true  also  in  all  those  fields  of  intellection 
where  questions  of  right  and  wrong  are  involved.  If 
we  teach  the  young  to  prove  that  honesty  is  the  best 
policy,  we  may  by  the  very  process  of  so  doing  invite 
the  casuistry  that  would  disprove  it,  and  so  of  all  the 
virtues,  for  to  sophisticate  is  to  weaken  them.  Know- 
ing may  not  only  come  to  vicariate  for  duty  but  may 
atrophy  the  will.  Thus  it  is  that  by  what  seems  a 
strange  paradox  it  is  precisely  in  the  domain  of 
morals  that  morale  is  prone  to  sink  lowest,  if  not  to 
pass  over  into  its  opposite. 

We  are  proud  to  call  ours  a  Christian  civilization 
and  age,  but  do  we  imitate  Christ  or  do  we  not  rather 
vicariate  for  so  doing  by  the  method  of  overdetermi- 
nation  or  stressing  creeds,  rites,  and  orthodoxies 
chiefly  of  intellectual  origin?  Jesus  was  the  world's 
model  of  self-abnegation,  pure,  obedient  to  the  Great 
Father,  and  He  regarded  riches  and  honors  as  vanity. 
If  He  came  again,  would  He  deem  the  church  Chris- 
tian or  more  like  the  Pharisees  of  His  day?  Have  we 
lost  some  of  the  flavor  of  sincerity  and  real  convic- 
tion here?  So,  too,  we  profess  democracy,  but  do  we 
believe,  practice,  or  have  we  merely  begun  to  realize 

287 


MORALE 

it?  In  our  educational  system  we  have  gone  far,  but 
are  we  nearing  the  true  goal  of  man's  perfection  ?  We 
now  know  much  of  eugenics  but  practice  its  laws  only 
on  our  flocks  and  crops.  We  are  taught  thrift  and 
economy  but  are  the  most  wasteful  of  all  nations  and 
most  regardless  of  our  natural  resources. 

Now,  morale  consists  in  acting  up  to  our  best 
knowledge,  and  the  loss  of  it  is  marked  by  the  accu- 
mulation of  dead  knowledge  not  cast  into  conduct 
forms  or  wrought  into  habit.  It  is  just  here  that  we 
find  at  least  one  bright  spot  in  the  somber  horizon, 
viz.,  physical  culture,  not  so  much  as  it  is  as  it  seems 
beginning  to  be  and  may  sometime  become  if  more  of 
its  leaders  have  more  vision.  The  muscles  are  the  or- 
gans of  the  will,  and  if  they  are  developed  and  kept 
at  concert  pitch,  nothing  could  probably  do  quite  so 
much  to  narrow  the  wide  and  deep  chasm  between 
our  noetic  and  our  conative  faculties.  The  old  Turn- 
ers said  that  this  muscle  culture  made  them  frisch, 
frei,  frohlich,  and  fromm.  We  would  not  merely  cul- 
tivate the  therapeutic  athletics  that  finds  weak  parts 
and  functions,  and  devises  and  prescribes  methods 
and  apparatus  to  strengthen  them.  Nor  was  Jahn's 
idea  of  making  the  body  able  to  do  everything  pos- 
sible for  it  as  a  machine  sufficient.  Nor  is  the  more 
frenzied  training  to  win  special  victories  on  the  dia- 
mond, gridiron,  or  in  the  ring  sufficient.  We  need 
a  universal  compulsory  body  cult,  with  examinations, 
to  counteract  the  physical  degeneration  produced  by 
urban  and  sedentary  life  and  the  ever  greater  special- 

288 


MORALE  AND  EDUCATION 

ization  of  our  industries,  which,  has  now  been  so 
startlingly  revealed  to  us  by  the  percentage  of  unfit- 
ness  among  the  draftees.  Modern  life  overworks  the 
smaller  accessory  muscles  and  tends  to  neglect  the 
older  and  more  massive  ones  that  move  the  trunk  and 
limbs. 

Now,  action  is  the  language  of  complete  men,  and 
no  culture  is  finally  acquired  that  does  not  pass  over 
and  become  set  in  conduct  and  habits,  for  doing  is  the 
best  method  and  organ  of  knowing.  The  deeper  the 
stratum  of  motor  mechanization  in  which  we  embody 
our  good  impulses  and  precepts,  the  more  complete 
and  secure  is  their  acquisition.  Thus  the  better 
the  quality  of  muscle,  the  more  effective  the  will, 
for  motor  habits  pre-form  not  only  character  and 
conduct  but  belief  itself.  Virtue  is  chiefly  a  matter 
not  of  knowledge  but  of  practice.  It  is  an  art  vastly 
more  than  a  science,  skill  more  than  ideas.  Even  the 
purest  thought  is  only  action  more  or  less  repressed, 
just  as  all  aesthetic  enjoyment  springs  from  and  can 
be  genetically  reduced  back  to  service,  because  all  of 
what  we  call  beauty  is  simply  what  once  was  use.  All 
culture  that  stops  in  the  first  and  most  superficial, 
i.  e.}  the  noetic  stage,  is  not  only  useless  but  danger- 
ous, and  the  conflicts  it  engenders  are  a  serious  drain 
upon  morale. 

Now  physical  education  and  hygiene  have  cultural 
possibilities  which  our  colleges  and  universities,  ow- 
ing to  their  deplorably  low  morale,  have  never  begun 
to  appreciate.  Faculties  and  athletic  committees 

289 


MORALE 

have  to  profess  and  cultivate  a  falsetto  enthusiasm 
for  it  while  secretly  though  perhaps  unconsciously 
fearing  it  (a  fear  unheard  of  in  any  other  author- 
ized field  of  academic  life),  or  they  are  at  least  jeal- 
ous of  the  enthusiasm  often  manifested  for  a  popular 
and  successful  coach.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a 
professor  who  dabbled  with  athletic  rules  or  rooted 
with  the  undergraduates  at  an  interscholastic  game 
who  would  not  almost  mortgage  his  soul  if  he  knew 
how  to  generate  in  his  own  department  a  hundredth 
part  of  the  zest  and  enthusiasm  that  goes  into  these 
great  conflicts.  Could  this  entire  energy  be  turned 
upon  the  work  of  the  classroom,  library,  seminary, 
and  study,  we  should  have  nothing  less  than  an  aca- 
demic revival.  But  most  academic  (ions  are  pitifully 
timid  of  routine  and  tradition,  and  their  meetings 
are  so  tedious  and  dreary  as  to  suggest  Pope's 
"Dunciad"  or  Dickens'  "Circumlocution  Office." 
Nothing  worth  while  is  ever  likely  to  emanate  from 
faculties. 

But  the  first  step  toward  rescuing  academic  morale 
could  best  be  taken  in  the  field  of  body  culture,  be- 
cause only  here  can  we  find  those  with  muscle  taut 
enough  to  do  the  right  thing  when  they  know  it.  Let, 
then,  the  athletes  and  their  leaders  and  organizers 
insist  that  one  or  more  chairs  on  the  subject  be 
established  as  soon  as  the  right  men  can  be  found 
or  trained,  for  I  doubt  if  more  than  one  or  at  the 
most  three  could  be  found  ready  to-day  in  the  whole 
country.  This  department  should  be  given  full  aca- 

290 


demic  rank  and  credits,  and  its  culture  value  amply 
realized.  There  are  wide  fields  liere  quite  uncurricu- 
larized  which  are  rank  with  educational  possibilities. 
Hygiene — public  and  personal — for  almost  everything 
man  does,  physical  and  mental,  can  be  done  in  a  hy- 
gienic or  unhygienic  way;  precepts — national,  family 
and  personal — for  preserving  health  and  preventing 
illness;  plays,  games,  and  recreations,  and  their  his- 
tory down  to  the  modern  playground ;  the  story  and 
culture  value  of  each  of  the  chief  sports  and  athletic 
contests  of  to-day  and  of  the  past;  the  wonderful 
record  of  gymnastics  in  ancient  Greece,  especially  in 
her  four  great  festivals  where  "everyone  who  loved 
gold  or  glory  came'-'  and  "in  comparison  to  the  splen- 
dor of  which  Death  and  Night  never  seemed  so  black ;" 
the  patriotic  Turner  movement  of  Jahn  and  his  fol- 
lowers who  said  that  only  strong  muscles  can  make 
men  great  and  nations  free,  toward  which  German 
rulers  felt  the  same  timidity  and  suspicion  that  many 
modern  dons  do  toward  our  great  games;  the  chief 
systems  of  physical  training — all  have  culture  motives 
and  results. 

There  should  be,  too,  a  few  leaves  from  the  history 
of  medicine  in  its  long  fight  with  man's  great  enemy, 
disease,  all  treated  in  the  broad  way  of  Billroth  or 
of  Sprengel,  who  made  the  story  of  the  healing  art 
almost  coextensive  with  histories  of  both  science  and 
philosophy.  The  culture  values  of  dancing,  too,  box- 
ing, fencing,  swimming,  wrestling,  discus-throwing 
and  shot-putting,  leaping,  running,  rowing,  should  be 

291 


MOKALE 

brought  out,  stressing  always  training,  regimen,  and 
the  contributions  and  dangers  of  each  for  morale, 
and  showing  the  value  of  each  kind  of  exercise  and 
even  of  each  industry  for  character  and  diathesis,  for 
bringing  out  the  spirit  of  team-work,  justice,  fair 
play,  honesty,  honor,  and  true  sportsmanship.  The 
mandate  to  these  new  professors  should  be  to  save  for 
culture  all  the  enthusiasm  that  is  now  so  largely 
wasted,  and  in  the  reaction  of  the  tensions  engendered 
often  worse  than  wasted.  As  hydrographic  engineers 
now  seek  to  use  the  mountain  floods  that  once  made 
deep  canyons  and  left  arid  wastes  between  and  above 
them,  so  the  boundless  enthusiasm  for  physical  per- 
fection and  achievement  should  be  made  to  irrigate 
both  life  and  study.  To  be  weak  in  youth  is  generally 
due  to  sin  and  shame  somewhere.  Besides  all  this 
work,  it  is  high  time  that  we  now  tested  and  pre- 
scribed for  everyone  at  every  age,  and  aim  at  nothing 
less  than  national  and  racial  regeneration,  for  it  is 
not  enough  to  minimize  the  dissociation  (Janet)  and 
disharmonious  (Metchnikoff)  tendencies  so  rife  in 
our  unique  age. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

MORALE    AND    STATESMANSHIP 

The  tendency  of  the  soundest  minds  to  become  neurotic  when  con- 
fronted by  great  problems — The  Nemesis  of  mediocrity — Dispro- 
portionate magnification  of  items  of  the  treaty — Loss  of  per- 
spective and  the  power  to  compromise — Failure  of  the  League  as 
involving  a  relapse  to  the  old  selfish  continental  policy  of  each 
nation  for  itself. 

The  hardest  of  all  the  hard  things  man  does  in  this 
world  is  to  look  a  very  new  and  complex  situation 
that  is  pressing  and  important  squarely  in  the  face, 
comprehend  all  its  elements,  assign  each  its  due 
weight,  and  then  respond  by  the  right  attitude,  be- 
havior, or  decision.  To  grapple  with  a  great  and 
vital  problem,  to  act  aright  in  novel  conditions  un- 
daunted by  their  difficulties,  and  on  great  occasions 
to  be  able  to  summon  all  our  energies  and  focus  them 
upon  a  new  goal,  when  this  involves  the  very  condi- 
tions of  survival,  is  the  essence  and  acme  of  morale. 
The  psychology  of  greatness  teaches  us  that  it  con- 
sists chiefly  in  seeing  everything  in  the  Here  and  Now 
or  in  the  power  of  "presentification,"  while  the  weak- 
ling flees  from  reality.  Great  spirits  love  and  seek, 
small  ones  shun  occasions  to  meet  which  they  must 
activate  all  their  powers.  When  such  occasions  come 
unsought,  men  hitherto  inconspicuous  often  find  in 
themselves  abilities  to  see  and  do  that  were  unsus- 
pected, perhaps  even  by  themelves,  and  thus  great 

293 


MORALE 

crises  bring  forward  new  leaders  while  old  guides  are 
found  wanting.  Not  only  lias  all  human  progress 
from  the  very  origin  of  man  been  made  or  at  least  led 
by  those  who  had  this  "excelsior"  type  of  morale, 
whose  all  too  often  unworded  if  not  unconscious  spirit 
was  that  suggested  by  such  ancient  phases  as  Impavi 
progrediamur,  carpe  diem,  "nothing  ventured,  noth- 
ing have,"  and  the  like,  but  animal  species  through  all 
the  evolutionary  ages  have  survived  or  perished  ac- 
cording as  they  had  or  had  not  the  power  of  adapta- 
tion to  the  great  cosmic  changes  that  went  on  in  their 
environment. 

Psychanalysis  is  now  teaching  us  the  same  lesson 
in  its  field.  When  the  problem  of  his  or  her  life  be- 
comes too  complicated  to  be  faced  and  met,  the  neu- 
rotic constitution  takes  flight  from  reality  either  to 
sickness  or  to  symptoms,  phobias,  obsessions,  or  inhi- 
hibition,  and  perversions  arise,  and  cure  consists  in 
envisaging  again  and  aright,  with  the  help  of  a  wise 
physician,  the  essential  facts  and  conditions  that  con- 
front the  patient's  present  life  and  setting  him  again 
on  the  right  trail.  Thus,  in  a  word,  cure  is  restora- 
tion of  the  patient's  morale.  The  ingenuities  shown 
in  the  manifold  ways  of  escaping  this  one  thing  need- 
ful are  beyond  all  computation  and  show  how  clever 
and  adept  the  human  soul  is,  far  down  below  the 
limits  of  consciousness,  in  shirking  the  devoir  present 
when  it  becomes  too  arduous.  Some  of  these  fugitives 
from  facts  as  they  are  react  to  infantile  states  where 
the  conditions  of  life  were  simpler.  In  dementia 

294 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

praecox  the  patient  becomes  a  Narcissus  and  loves 
and  admires  only  himself,  and  is  arrested  in  the 
pubescent  stage  of  his  development.  Or,  again,  he 
may  become  a  conceited,  egoistic,  foolish  doctrinaire 
impervious  to  arguments.  Others  grow  rancorous, 
suspect  plots  and  persecutions,  and  evolve  endless 
precautions  against  imaginary  dangers.  Still  others 
become  too  timorous  to  act  or  even  to  think  and  frit- 
ter away  their  energies  in  inane  doubts,  and  welter 
in  inanities  until  all  the  flavor  of  conviction  is  lost. 

As  I  write,  our  Congress  and  our  thinking  public 
are  confronted  in  the  consideration  of  the  Treaty  and 
the  League  of  Nations  with  the  most  intricate  and 
difficult  problem  that  the  cultural  world  has  ever 
faced.  Few  have  even  read  all  the  texts  themselves, 
and  of  those  who  have  done  so,  still  fewer  in  this  new 
country,  so  remote  from  Europe  and  really  so  igno- 
rant of  it,  are  able  to  see  all  the  relations  of  its  items 
to  the  past  of  European  nations  and  peoples,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  Orient  and  of  the  future.  Never  have 
even  the  wisest  had  such  a  sense  of  their  own  incom- 
petency  to  know  all  that  they  would  and  should  in 
the  premises,  and  to  act  aright  in  an  emergency  where 
a  decision  must  soon  be  made. 

The  simplest  and  easiest  way,  therefore,  is  to  scrap 
the  whole  treaty,  and  this  course  would  be  bound  to 
grow  more  seductive  to  some,  while  our  sense  of  the 
tremendous  moment  and  epoch-making  complexity  of 
it  and  of  our  own  "apperceptive  insufficiency"  in- 
creases. This  course  would  bring  a  sudden  sense  of 

295 


MORALE 

holiday  easement,  like  the  jubilee  remission  of  a  great 
debt  that  long  had  been  hanging  over  us.  Like  the 
conscientious  objector  to  war,  those  who  advocate 
this  view  might  almost  be  accused  of  slackerdom  un- 
worthy of  the  spirit  of  our  own  soldiers  who  faced  the 
awful  chance  of  death  for  a  cause  they  thought 
worthy  of  it.  This  course  finds  the  widest  approval 
among  the  pacifists,  who  have  the  horror  of  all  con- 
flicts characteristic  of  some  neurotics.  To  revert  to 
our  former  isolation,  however,  would  be  to  repudiate 
most  of  the  obligations  and  opportunities  which  the 
war  has  brought.  "Safety  first"  means  to  men  of  this 
type  our  own  present  safety,  for  what  is  posterity 
and  what  is  Europe  to  us?  Without  vision  peoples 
perish,  but  prophetic  insight  into  the  future  is  too 
hazardous,  and  adequate  knowledge  of  European  con- 
ditions is  too  hard.  By  remaining  juvenile  we  es- 
cape growing  pains.  It  is  better  to  balk  and  buck 
than  to  draw  or  carry  the  heavy  load  our  manifest 
destiny  now  lays  upon  us.  In  fact,  it  is  as  much  our 
duty  to  help  settle  the  world  we  have  done  so  much 
to  unsettle  as  it  was  to  enter  the  war,  and  to  counsel 
abrogation  is  like  calling  a  retreat  after  our  soldiers 
had  won  a  hard  victory  instead  of  reaping  its  fruits. 
It  would  also  be  to  break  faith  with  and  desert  our 
allies  in  the  most  critical  hour. 

In  fact  neither  the  power  nor  the  spirit  of  the 
enemy  is  broken.  He  is  certain  to  reorganize  east- 
ward and  make  common  cause  with  Slavic  Russia, 
and  the  real  menace  to  the  world's  future,  although 

296 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

we  cannot  date  it,  is  most  ominous.  The  Central,  and 
we  know  not  what  Eastern  and  Southern  powers  will 
some  time  be  launched  on  a  campaign  of  revenge  and 
recompense  for  the  hard  conditions  of  the  present 
peace,  and  if  Western  Europe  falls,  this  country  will 
soon  follow.  Henceforth,  thus,  our  fate  is  indisso- 
lubJy  bound  up  with  that  of  at  least  our  two  chief 
allies  wherever  the  other  nations  that  took  part  in 
the  great  war  shall  be  found  in  the  future  alignment. 
Whether  we  wish  it  or  not,  we  are  henceforth  in  a 
very  real  sense  a  part  of  Europe  ("New  Europe"). 
Never  have  we  had  so  many  interests  there,  and  all  of 
them  are  bound  to  grow;  for  this  country  is  to  be  a 
great  factor,  as  it  never  began  to  be  before,  in  every 
item  of  European  diplomacy  and  trade.  Why,  then, 
should  we  not  face  the  realities  of  the  situation  in- 
stead of  attempting  to  evade  or  retreat  from  them? 
We  can  no  more  help  integration  with  western  Europe 
than  ou-r  original  colonies  could  escape  federation. 
Here,  again,  it  is  "liberty  and  union  now  and 
forever  one  and  inseparable"  or,  expressed  in 
more  fundamental  biological  terms,  synthesis  must 
go  hand  in  hand  with  differentiation  or  there  is  re- 
trogression toward  the  protozoan  or  unicellular  stage 
of  life. 

Besides  the  fugue  type  of  reaction  to  the  Treaty  and 
its  issues  is  the  regression-to-infancy  type.  When  we 
were  but  a  row  of  colonies  along  the  Atlantic,  it  was 
our  obvious  policy  to  utilize  our  isolation.  We  had 
just  broken  away  from  Europe,  and  it  was  manifestly 

297 


MORALE 

wise  to  let  her  alone  and  be  let  alone  by  her;  and 
under  this  quasi  hermit  policy  we  grew  and  pros- 
pered. Just  as  adults  often  hark  back  to  the  allure- 
ments of  their  childhood  and  home,  and  long  for  its 
happy  carelessness  and  protection ;  and  as  in  an  over- 
civilized  age  and  land  jaded  souls  like  Rousseau 
would  retreat  to  a  state  of  nature  and  revel  in  dreams 
of  primitive  Arcadian  simplicity  when  the  world  wag 
young ;  so  souls  world-wearied  with  an  age  of  strenu- 
osity  and  efficiency  long  for  the  paradisaic  state  of 
callow  infancy,  ignoring  the  fact  that  the  very  trend 
that  made  Washington  and  his  associates  federalists 
would  make  them  league-advocates  to-day.  In  fact, 
the  new  era  which  the  close  of  the  war  ushers  in  has 
made  all  precedents,  traditions,  and  previous  history 
seem  a  little  stale  and  pedantic.  The  past  has  its 
lessons,  but  in  a  new  age  too  much  reliance  upon 
them  may  prove  a  greater  hindrance  than  help. 

When  we  consider  parties,  of  which  De  Tocqueville 
well  said  every  state  needs  at  least  two — the  one  con- 
servative, mindful  that  no  good  thing  of  the  past  be 
lost,  and  the  other  progressive,  that  seeks  chiefly  the 
new  duties  that  new  occasions  always  demand — we 
see  how  far  we  have  drifted  from  this  ideal.  By  the 
war  the  power  and  patronage  of  the  government  has 
grown  enormously.  Not  only  has  taxation  and  our 
total  annual  income  and  expenditure  increasied  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  but  the  government  seems  more  or 
less  likely  to  control  at  least  some  of  the  great  public 
service  institutions  hitherto  private  corporations.  The 

298 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

possession  and  operation  of  these  vast  interests  and 
the  "spoils  of  office,"  likely  in  the  future  to  be  far 
greater  than  in  the  past, — these  are  now  the  goal  of 
each  party,  and  thus  the  prizes  to  the  winner  are 
vaster  than  have  ever  been  dreamed  of  by  politicians 
before.  This  is  why  the  non-partisanship  of  the  war 
has  been  sjo  prematurely  abandoned  and  we  find  our 
rival  parties  struggling  with  each  other  for  the  con- 
trol of  this  vast  patronage.  In  Washington  we  have 
the  spectacle  of  nearly  all  the  great  questions  of  re- 
construction debated  and  settled  nearly  along  par- 
tisan lines,  with  only  a  narrow  margin  of  individual 
conviction.  Each  party  is,  for  the  most  part,  intent 
upon  making  political  capital  at  the  expense  of  the 
other,  for  the  struggle  now  is  for  the  control  of  the 
vast  business  of  the  nation  for  the  next  presidential 
quadrennium.  This  lapse  from  statesmanship  is 
nothing  less  than  profiteering  in  politics  and  indicates 
the  collapse  of  political  morale  just  when  it  should  be 
at  its  very  highest  and  best.  The  strongest  argument 
against  public  ownership  is  that  along  with  the  in- 
crease of  material  interests  at  stake,  there  will  be  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  bitterness  of  the  con- 
flict between  the  "ins"  and  "outs,"  and  that  in  these 
struggles  the  very  traditions  of  lofty,  -disinterested 
statesmanship  that  is  intent  solely  on  the  good  of  the 
people  as  a  whole,  will  be  lost  beyond  recall.  Thus  it 
is  hard  to  see  how  a  great  nation  can  survive  if  every- 
one who  controls  any  of  it  is  "on  the  make"  for  him- 
self, for  his  business,  or  for  the  interests  that  elect 

299 


MOKALE 

and  perhaps  retain   him  and  his  party   in   power. 

The  doctrinaire  is  no  less  psychotic  and  ill-adapted 
to  meet  great  new  issues.  He  is  an  absolutist  and 
perhaps  an  ideologue.  He  luxuriates  in  his  own  con- 
victions, and  is  so  hyperindividualized  and  cocksure 
he  is  right  that  it  is  very  hard  for  him  to  do  team- 
work and  to  make  the  compromises  and  concessions 
always  essential  for  joint  action.  For  those  who  op- 
pose him  there  isi  no  excuse  or  explanation  except  the 
worst.  To  adopt  the  lesser  evil  in  order  to  attain  the 
greater  good  seems  to  him  as  impossible  as  "going  to 
Canossa"  did  to  Bismarck,  or  as  seeing  any  good  in 
Rome  did  to  the  Puritan  Protestant.  His  entire  pro- 
fessional experience  has  been  that  of  an  advocate  and 
not  that  of  a  judge,  and  real  arbitration  is  often  al- 
most impossible  for  him.  He  has  too  much  will  for 
his  intellect.  His  temperamental  recalcitrancy  may 
make  him  irreconcilable  even  to  his  party  and  his 
constituents,  'and  perhaps  his  own  interests.  While 
others  hesitate  or  change  as  they  grow  wiser,  his  cer- 
tainty is  absolute.  With  him  inconsistency  is  almost 
a  phobia, 

Here,  again,  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  great 
law  that  even  those  able  and  sane  enough  in  the  ordi- 
nary emergencies  of  their  lives  develop  every  symp- 
tom of  neurasthenia  when  confronted  by  exigencies 
too  great  for  their  mental  or  moral  powers.  The 
weakling  breaks  down  because  he  cannot  solve  the 
ordinary  problems  of  his  livelihood,  family,  and  social 
relations.  So,  too,  the  strongest  become  weaklings 

300 


when  called  upon  to  face  problems  of  world  dimen- 
sion. It  is  all  a  question  of  the  proportion  between 
tasks  and  ability.  It  has  long  been  recognized  by  the 
few  wise  men  of  the  world  that  the  institutions  of 
civilization,  the  industries,  the  management  of  state, 
the  corpus  of  knowledge  and  science,  discoveries  and 
inventions,  etc.,  were  becoming  too  big  and  compli- 
cated to  be  adequately  managed  by  men  of  the  caliber 
that  our  institutions  now  produce.  It  is  ever  harder 
to  find  able  leaders  and  guides.  Thus  mediocrity  and 
incompetency  cause  vast  wastage  of  human  energy 
and  material  resources.1  Faced,  thus,  by  the  colossal 
task  of  reconstructing  the  world,  before  which  not 
only  we  but  the  most  sagacious  and  experienced 
experts  of  Europe,  who  are  closer  to  their  prob- 
lems than  we,  can  act  only  more  or  less  tentatively 
and  provisionally,  what  is  our  cue  out  of  the  labyrinth 
of  all  these  perplexities  and  difficulties? 

To  this  there  is  one  answer  and  but  one  recourse, 
and  that  it  is  the  deathless  glory  of  this  country  to 
have  suggested  and  to  have  done  much  to  make 
operative.  It  is  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  deepest, 
simplest,  and  clearest  of  all  the  instincts  in  the  hu- 
man soul,  the  instinct  of  justice.  Every  human  being 
has  within  him  the  sense  of  fair  play  and  of  a  square 
deal.  Somehow  and  somewhere  and  at  some  time 

1  See  The  Cult  of  Incompetence  by  E.  Faguet  (1911) ;  Le  Problems 
de  la  Competence  dans  la  Democratic  by  Joseph  Barthelemy  (Paris, 
1918) ;  Originality  by  T.  S.  Knowlson  (1918) ;  Professionalism  and 
Originality,  by  F.  H.  Hay  ward  (London,  1917)  ;  also  Ralph  Adams 
Cram's  two  small  volumes.  The  Nemesis  of  Mediocrity,  52,  1917,  and 
The  Sins  of  the  Fathers,  114,  1919. 

301 


the  world  feels  that  the  virtuous  must  be  happy  and 
the  wicked  suffer.  Pleasure  and  merit  on  the  one 
hand,  iniquity  and  pain  on  the  other,  belong  together 
or  this  world  is  a  moral  chaos  and  there  is  no  po- 
larity of  right  and  wrong.  Job  did  not  yield  to  his 
counsellors  because  he  had  an  invincible  sense  that 
this  must  be  so.  It  was  because  these  two  did  not 
always  seem  to  go  together  that  all  future  states 
of  rewards  and  punishments  were  evolved,  for  if  jus- 
tice were  meted  out  here,  heavens  and  hells  would 
be  less  needed.  All  penal  cults  and  all  social  ap- 
proval and  censure,  all  drama  and  romance,  are  based 
on  and  illustrate  the  law  that  both  the  evil  and  the 
good  get  their  deserts.  No  artist  would  dare  repre- 
sent it  otherwise,  for  to  do  so  would  be  pessimism. 

All  the  people  of  the  earth  must  be  assured  life, 
liberty,  and  security  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness  un- 
der law,  and  this  must  take  precedence  over  all  ma- 
terial, national,  diplomatic,  dynastic,  or  other  in- 
terests. This  our  democracy  has  in  some  sense  and 
to  some  degree  striven  to  and  now  has  actually 
sought  to  teach,  although  it  must  be  admitted  with 
only  partial  but  yet  with  an  inspiring  degree  of  suc- 
cess at  Versailles.  It  was  a  sublime  and  world-chal- 
lenging attitude  that  we  were  able  to  take  in  re- 
nouncing indemnities  and  all  advantages  that  we 
might  have  claimed  for  our  work  in  turning  the  tide 
of  war,  and  insisting  only  by  way  of  compensation 
for  what  we  had  done  upon  simple  justice  for  all  peo- 
ple and  such  safeguards  against  future  aggression  as 

302 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

could  be  provided.  Paramount  to  all  other  questions 
and  as  a  condition  precedent  to  everything  in  the  way 
of  settlement,  we  insisted  on  the  simple  moral  law  of 
righteousness. 

In  some  senses  our  President  was  a  prophet  coming 
from  the  wilderness  in  the  crisis  to  proclaim  the 
primal  principles  of  right  and  wrong  as  common  sense 
and  common  law  conceived  them.  To  do  the  right 
thing  in  all  the  ways  specified  in  the  fourteen  points 
was  all  he  counseled.  Thus  our  president  was  a  new 
"Daniel  come  to  judgment"  for  his  message  expressed 
the  highest  morale  of  this  country  and  also  of  the 
whole  conference.  While  the  delegates  of  other  peo- 
ples were  strenuous  in  insisting  upon  their  own  ad- 
vantages, he  alone  set  the  right  in  the  highest  place. 

He  is  a  pedagogue  and  lectures  Congress  much  in 
the  de  haut  en  las  spirit  he  would  use  to  his  Princeton 
seniors,  and  he  has  all  the  pedagogue's  resentment  at 
correction,  criticism,  opposition,  or  even  searching  in- 
terrogation. He  can  work  well  only  with  hisi  subor- 
dinates, not  with  his  peers.  He  has  made  errors  ga- 
lore, as  subsequent  events  have  shown,  but  who  could 
be  infallible  in  the  many  momentous  decisions  that 
the  war  has  forced  him  to  make.  He  is  efficient  in 
attack  and  sometimes  seems  to  have  a  genius  for  ex- 
citing needless  animosities.  Compromise  and  con- 
cession come  especially  hard  for  one  of  Ms  diathesis. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  his  great  achievement  of 
appealing  to  the  conscience  of  the  world  and  insist- 
ing that  the  plain  principles  of  ethics  should  prevail 

303 


MOEALE 

between  nations  as  between  individuals  in  a  com- 
munity, has  assured  him  forever  a  very  high  place  in 
the  history  of  this  country  and  the  wrorld;  and  what- 
ever the  fate  of  the  League  of  Nations,  and  whatever 
he  does  or  fails  to  do  in  the  future,  this  will  remain 
one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  our  age. 

To  be  quitters  now  would  not  only  be  to  betray  our 
soldiers  living  and  dead,  make  their  work  abortive, 
and  leave  this  war  as  unfinished  as  our  Civil  War 
wrould  have  been  without  the  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation, but  it  would  also  be  betraying  our  Allies, 
especially  France.  Within  the  League  we  can  do 
much  for  the  smaller  nationalities  and  eventually 
even  for  China,  while  outside  it  we  can  do  little. 
Within  it  we  are  relatively  safe  from  all  future  wars ; 
without  it  we  must  at  once  set  to  work  organizing  a 
powerful  army  and  navy  and  be  prepared  for  eventu- 
alities, with  our  front  line  along  the  east  of  France 
abandoned  for  one  on  our  own  coast-line.  To  with- 
draw now  would  be  suicidal  for  all  our  economic  in- 
terests abroad  and  wrould  tend  to  limit  our  enter- 
prise to  the  narrower  horizon  of  the  home  market 
clubs.  The  advantages  and  opportunities  opened  by 
the  League  are  far  too  vast  to  be  calculated  at  pres- 
ent, and  business  needs  only  to  wake  up  to  the  new 
world  opening  before  it  ere  it  is  too  late;  when  it 
does,  the  narrowness  and  perversity  of  those  who 
would  scuttle  the  League  or  use  it  as  a  football  of 
party  politics  will  be  realized.  Free  and  normal  eco- 
nomic life  is  now  the  surest  guarantee  of  peace,  while 

304 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

restraints  and.  handicaps  of  industry  and  trade  are 
now  and  henceforth,  chief  among  all  the  causae  belli. 
One  more  neurotic  trend  is  now  in  evidence  here. 
When  confronted  by  a  grave  and  complex  situation, 
the  psychopathic  constitution  tends  to  focus  on  one 
or  more  of  its  items  and  to  magnify  them  beyond  all 
bounds,  ignoring  others  and  losing  all  sense  of  per- 
spective and  proportion.  The  larger  view  of  the 
whole  is  lost  in  particular  and  special  aspects  of  it, 
and  the  patient  cannot  see  the  forest  but  only  indi- 
vidual trees.  In  this  process  of  overdetermination 
the  general  emotional  excitement  is  transferred  and 
concentrated  upon  a  single  point,  and  this  is  made 
either  an  erotic,  phobic,  or  perhaps  an  anger  fetish. 
Other  no  less  important  points  remain  bewusstseins" 
unfahig,  i.  e.,  the  field  of  consciousness  is  too  narrow 
for  them  to  get  into  it  at  all  or  to  attain  the  promi- 
nence they  deserve  in  it.  So,  in  the  discussion  of 
this  momentous  treaty  of  twenty-six  articles,  nearly 
all  the  time  and  attention  has  been  focussed  upon  a 
very  few  of  them,  the  importance  of  which  has  been 
disproportionately  overestimated,  while  other  articles 
of  even  greater  moment  for  the  world  as  a  whole  al- 
most escaped  attention.  A  sense  of  the  treaty  as  a 
whole  remains  almost  entirely  undeveloped  save  by  a 
scant  half  dozen  men  in  this  country,  and  these  all 
outside  of  Congress.  Can  we  get  out  of  the  League, 
and  with  little  difficulty  and  promptly  if  we  ever 
want  to;  can  we,  with  our  noli  me  tangere  tenden- 
cies and  with  almost  a  phobia  of  interference  in  our 

305 


MORALE 

own  affairs  from  without,  not  have  a  little  stronger 
phraseology  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  using  this  op- 
portunity to  exact  something  like  recognition  of  it 
from  our  Allies ;  will  Japan,  a  country  where  the  old 
Bushido  spirit  makes  honor  and  fidelity  to  pledges  a 
religion  and  which  has  a  more  flawless  diplomatic 
record  than  any  great  country  in  Europe,  be  relied 
upon  to  keep  the  letter  and  spirit  of  its  pledge  of  re- 
storing Shantung  and  name  a  date;  shall  we  scrap 
the  whole  treaty  because  of  the  injustice  of  one  item 
of  it,  or  because  in  questions  that  require  absolute 
unanimity  we  have  but  one  instead  of  six  votes — 
these  are  questions  important,  of  course,  but  of  really; 
narrow  import  as  compared  with  the  many  others 
which  the  treaty  involves  and  of  which  we  have  heard 
almost  nothing.  Thus  our  baffled  and  distraught 
wiseacres,  -trying  to  cope  with  problems  too  many 
and  great  for  them,  have  taken  refuge  in  and  fetish- 
ized  into  factitious  importance  items  like  the  above, 
which  have  been  surcharged  with  all  the  emotion 
transferred  to  them  from  the  field  of  party  rivalry, 
personal  antagonism,  and  especially  from  the  deep 
and  more  unconscious  sense  of  their  own  insufliciency. 
Such  are  the  motives  some  of  them  adduce  for  insist- 
ing upon  not  merely  recommendations  and  reserva- 
tions but  amendments,  a  course  which  would  involve 
not  only  all  the  hardships  and  disadvantages  of  delay 
but  is  liable  in  the  end  to  involve  a  relapse  to  our  old 
policy  of  isolation. 

The  critics  of  the  League,  too,  have  thus  far  not 

306 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

only  shown  themselves  destructive  and  not  construc- 
tive but  have  shown  a  singular  incapacity  to  grasp 
the  chief  constructive  features  of  it.  We  have  heard 
little  of  the  rehabilitation  of  Poland  and  the  other 
nation-states  that  have  been  restored  or  created  out- 
right; of  the  great  transformations  in  the  Balkans; 
and  of  the  new  epoch  for  Turkey  and  Constantinople, 
for  so  many  centuries  the  heart  of  European  intrigue 
and  in  some  sense  a  key  not  only  to  the  Near  but  to 
the  Far  East;  of  the  unprecedented  new  opportuni- 
ties which,  the  treaty  will  open  for  trade ;  of  the  re- 
moval of  the  handicap  of  autocracy  which  has 
brought  a  new  sense  of  not  only  relief  but  of  exhila- 
ration to  the  world,  which  has  caught  from  us  "the 
spirit  of  '76 ;"  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  artificial 
and  cruel  Hapsburg  domain.  Still  less  have  we  been 
warmed  by  the  spirit  of  moral  uplift  that  comes  from 
the  new  possibility  of  realizing  at  last  the  age-long 
dream  of  a  federation  of  the  world  and  the  democra- 
tization of  all  its  members.  Nor  have  we  tried  to 
realize  what  the  internationalization  of  labor,  now 
made  practical,  involves.  The  official  watchmen  we 
have  placed  in  our  outlook  towers  have  given  us  little 
help  in  realizing  what  the  most  sagacious  and  learned 
of  all  students  of  ancient  Greece  called  the  four  great 
culture  powers,  not  only  of  the  classic  but  of  the  mod- 
ern world :  its  ethos  or  moral  sense ;  its  logos  or  rea- 
son and  science  so  far  as  man  has  reached  conclusions 
about  the  cosmos  and  the  place  he  holds  in  it,  which 
all  adopt ;  nomos  or  the  formulated  laws  and  rules  of 

307 


MORALE 

all  collective  life  and  society;  and  the  mythos  or  all 
tlie  culture  power  inherent  in  idealizations,  tradi- 
tions, hopes  and  all  the  loftier  products  of  the  imagi- 
nation. 

The  final  verdict  on  the  Treaty-League  is  what 
these  supreme  judges  will  say  when  we  hear  from 
them.  To  get  into  rapport  with  these  larger  aspects 
of  the  question  we  need  generalizations  that  are 
really  such.  We  need  also  sentiments  at  their  best 
and  distinct  from  a  sentimentality  that  appeals  only 
to  the  superficies  of  the  mind,  a  poetry  that  is  inspired 
by  the  loftiest  of  humanistic  ideals,  an  eloquence  that 
makes  a  higher  appeal  than  to  mob  and  party  pas- 
sions— in  a  word  we  need  the  best  thing  that  true  re- 
ligion can  give,  faith  in  a  power  that  makes  for  right- 
eousness and  has  done  so  through  all  the  ages,  and 
which  inspires  men  to  recognize,  seize,  and  make  the 
most  and  best  of  new  and  great  opportunities  when 
they  present  themselves.  What  the  citizen  voter 
wants  is  a  broad  bird's-eye  view  from  an  altitude  suf- 
ficient to  bring  out  the  salient  features  in  their  proper 
relief  and  to  show  their  general  relations  to  each 
other  and  to  the  course  of  history.  We  need  leaders 
who  can  look  up  rather  than  down  like  Bunyan's 
muckraker,  who  can  use  not  only  the  microscope  but 
the  telescope  as  well,  who  can  reorient  the  course  of 
the  Ship  of  State  by  appealing  from  dead  reckoning 
to  the  eternal  stars  and  to  what  Kant  called  their 
only  rival  in  sublimity,  the  moral  law  within.  Only 
this  course  can  give  and  perpetuate  our  leadership  of 

308 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

the  world.  Amendments  that  recommit  the  treaty 
and  which  cannot  possibly  be  adopted,  or  which  in- 
volve a  new  and  independent  treaty  with  Germany, 
from  which  we  can  never  begin  to  secure  advantages 
such  as  the  League  offers  us,  are  nothing  less  than 
wanton  sabotage  and  emasculation  of  morale  for 
which  we  and  our  posterity  will  have  to  make  long 
and  tedious  reparation. 

All  countries  of  Europe,  particularly  France  and 
Poland,  made  great  concessions  to  Wilsonian  ideas, 
great  as  was  the  sacrifice  of  national  aspirations 
which  these  involved.  Italy  and  Eoumania  have  al- 
ready shown  marked  tendencies  to  break  away  and 
relapse  to  the  old  selfish  nationalism  so  characteristic 
of  the  policies  of  continental  Europe.  If  the  League 
fails,  all  these  countries  are  sure  to  revert,  some 
sooner  some  later,  to  the  old  methods  of  each  country 
for  itself,  and  the  great  hope  of  new  and  better  things 
for  the  world  and  of  more  altruistic  national  policies 
will  abort,  and  the  old  spectacle  of  each  country  for 
itself  will  again  hold  sway. 

We  went  into  the  war  to  make  the  world  safe  for 
democracy,  but  we  have  made  it  very  unsafe  for  the 
new  democracies  we  have  created,  and  we  must  not 
now  make  it  contemptible.  During  the  war  we  gave 
the  splendid  spectacle  of  a  great  country  laying  aside 
differences  of  party,  section,  creed,  and  class,  and  to 
some  degree  of  every  personal  and  financial  interest, 
and  uniting  as  we  had  never  done  before  in  all  our 
history  in  a  great  cause.  Now  every  party,  interest, 

309 


MORALE 

and  even  type  of  individuality  is  asserting  itself  re- 
gardless of  the  common  welfare,  until  the  spectacle 
.we  present  to  the  world  is  one  of  discord  and  strife 
almost  unprecedented.  In  this  change  we  have  sunk 
from  the  zenith  almost  to  the  nadir  of  morale.  The 
spirit  of  concession,  which  is  the  very  basis  of  democ- 
racy, seems  to  have  taken  its  flight  from  among  us. 
Our  President,  always  an  ultra-individualist,  seems 
no  longer  capable  of  rising  to  the  great  possibilities  of 
the  hour,  and  our  Senate  seems  paralyzed  and  is  hold- 
ing up  the  business  of  the  country,  checking  the 
progress  of  the  world,  and  jeopardizing  if  it  has  not 
lost  the  leadership  which  the  issues  of  the  war  gave 
it  a  chance  to  perpetuate. 

Volumes  of  wordy  debates  on  questions  which  a 
few  dozen  business  men  would  have  settled  in  a  few 
weeks  informally  around  a  green  table  have  thrown 
everything  out  of  proportion,  and  have  also  resulted 
in  inflaming  not  only  partisan  but  the  most  intense 
personal  rancors  and  in  confirming  almost  everyone 
in  his  own  individual  opinion.  There  is  a  general 
drift  toward  the  attitude  of  irreconcilability  which, 
when  attained,  makes  anyone,  especially  law-makers, 
unfit  for  every  administrative  or  legislative  useful- 
ness. The  voice  of  practically  the  whole  country 
cries  out  to  the  White  House  and  to  the  Capitol  to 
settle  the  Treaty  and  the  League  somehow,  anyhow, 
and  get  down  to  work  on  the  vast  body  of  delayed 
legislation  ever  larger  and  ever  more  pressing,  and 
the  neglect  of  which  is  daily  more  disastrous  not  only 

310 


to  the  government  generally,  which  has  never  been 
brought  into  such  disrepute  or  lost  respect  and  pres- 
tige to  such  a  degree  before,  but  to  our  material  pros- 
perity and  the  morale  of  the  entire  nation.  But  the 
voice  of  the  people  is  as  unheeded  if  not  as  unheard  in 
Washington  as  are  the  voices  of  the  few  real  states- 
men among  us,  who  are  to  a  man  outside  of  the  Sen- 
atorial halls  or  administrative  circles.  Does  frenzied 
politics  make  our  representatives  insane?  Have  none 
of  them  been  inspired  with  the  common  sense  of 
Lincoln,  who  simply  brought  to  the  great  affairs  of 
the  nation  in  distress  the  same  homely,  practical 
spirit  of  equity  that  a  country  squire  applies  to  dis- 
putes within  his  township?  Lincoln  would  have  said 
to  the  Senate,  "A  plague  on  both  your  parties.  Agree 
on  any  reservations  and  I  will  accept  your  verdict 
and  waive  my  personal  objections,  if  I  must,  ad 
majorcm  gloriam  patriae.  But  agree,  and  that  quick- 
ly, and  get  busy  and  earn  your  salaries,  which  are 
now  worse  than  wasted."  An  emperor  would  have 
dissolved  the  Senate  and  decreed  a  new  election.  A 
czar  might  have  abolished  Congress  as  purely 
obstructive  and  obsessive,  and  settled  the  matter  him- 
self with  his  ministers.  A  Bismarck  would  have 
read  the  "Levites"  from  the  Speaker's  desk  at  the 
Capitol,  criticizing  each  party  and  faction,  and  defied 
or  whipped  all  recalcitrants  into  line.  A  Cromwell 
would  have  turned  our  Congress  out  with  an  armed 
force,  with  clanking  armors  in  the  senatorial  floors 
and  galleries.  But  we  are  a  democracy  and  so  can 

311 


MORALE 

do  none  of  these  things,  but  must  wait,  suffer,  be 
patient,  hope,  and  perhaps  pray  for  divine  interven- 
tion in  the  hearts  of  men  that  may  bring  contrition, 
sanity,  and  a  larger  view. 

We  need  nothing  less  than  a  new  school  of  states- 
manship. League  or  no  league,  henceforth  our  rela- 
tions will  be  far  closer  and  mutual  dependence  far 
greater  between  different  lands,  and  so  the  need  of 
knowing  the  mind  and  even  the  secret  heart  of  espe- 
cially the  other  leading  peoples  of  the  world  will  be 
more  pressing.  Had  England  been  less  ignorant  of 
the  soul  of  her  great  competitor,  Germany,  she  would 
not  have  been  caught  unprepared  but  would  have 
foreseen  more  clearly  and  been  ready  for  the  inevit- 
able. Statesmen  must  henceforth  be  experts  in  their 
knowledge  not  only  of  Europe  but  of  the  Orient.  Their 
interests  and  their  thoughts  must  henceforth  take  on 
more  cosmic  dimensions.  We  are  an  integral  part  of 
the  world  as  never  before  whether  we  will  it  or  not. 
Our  press  should  unite  its  forces  and  vastly  extend 
and  perfect  its  system  of  gathering  information 
throughout  the  world,  especially  at  the  great  centers. 
It  is  a  reproach  to  it  that  especially  since  the  war 
ceased,  we  know  almost  nothing,  save  by  occasional 
glimpses,  of  what  is  going  on  in  parts  of  Europe  in 
which  our  interests  had  been  keenly  aroused  and 
which  are  now  in  the  most  critical  condition. 

Nor  does  our  government  itself  begin  to  know  these 
things  as  well  as  do  those  of  Europe,  whose  consular 
and  diplomatic  agents  are  trained  in  special  institu- 

312 


MORALE  AND  STATESMANSHIP 

tions  for  the  purpose,  have  served  a  long  apprentice- 
ship, and  who  can  look  forward  to  life  careers  if  they 
choose  this  line  of  service  because  their  positions  are 
not  liable  to  be  made  the  spoils  of  office.  The  new 
statesmanship  will  not  obscure  great  issues  by  party 
politics;  nor  will  it  allow  even  national  greed  and 
selfishness  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  larger  interests 
of  man.  In  this  way  the  morale  of  even  politics, 
which  is  now  so  low  all  the  way  from  the  ward,  leader 
to  the  Senate,  may  be  restored. 

In  the  hierarchy  of  virtues  patriotism  ranks  very 
high,  but  there  is  one  and  one  only  that  outranks  it, 
and  that  is  love  of  mankind  as  a  whole.  Never  has 
there  been  so  much  talk  of  Americanism  and  such 
need  of  teaching  it  to  young  and  old,  especially  to  re- 
cent comers  to  our  shores.  But  Americanism  must 
not  lapse  to  fanaticism  or  be  made  a  cloak  for  any 
kind  of  the  narrow,  selfish,  jingoism  that  penalizes 
and  persecutes  rather  than  persuades  all  radical  opin- 
ions. Moreover,  there  is  already  a  true  internation- 
alism in  the  field  of  missions,  trade,  capitalism,  and 
to-day  of  labor.  Now,  it  is  a  great  law  of  psycho- 
genesis  that  the  man  who  begins  by  loving  even  his 
country  better  than  he  loves  mankind  is  not  a  desir- 
able citizen  of  the  world  to-day,  and  as  senescent  in- 
volution begins  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  decades  of  life, 
such  a  one  will  very  strongly  tend  to  lapse  to  a  lower 
stage  in  which  he  loves  party  more  than  country,  or 
his  sect  more  than  religion,  or  his  class  interests 
more  than  those  of  the  community,  and  he  will  also 

313 


MORALE 

strongly  tend  to  end  by  loving  himself  and  his  own 
wish  and  will  best  of  all.  This  retreat  or  katabasis 
of  soul  (the  exact  opposite  of  the  expansive  spirit  of 
youth  which  is  the  only  regenerative  force  in  the 
world)  is  the  fate  of  all  who  put  acquisition  above 
service.  It  is  this  trend  to  hyperindividuation  of 
ever  narrower  groups  that  has  been  from  the  dawn  of 
history  one  of  the  chief  if  not  the  essential  cause  of 
the  decline  and  fall  of  the  ancient  states,  and  which  if 
not  contravened  will  undermine  modern  civilization. 
The  fall  of  ancient  Greece  began  in  the  disintegration 
of  tlhe  sophists  who  affirmed  that  the  truth  was  what 
it  seemed  to  each.  It  began  in  Rome  with  the  decline 
of  the  middle  class  as  a  result  of  the  long  struggles 
between  the  upper  classes  and  the  masses,  the  latter 
becoming  almost  enslaved  and  the  former  arrogant, 
luxurious,  and  self-indulgent.  This  was  really  the 
psychological  cause,  although,  as  some  historians  are 
now  telling  us,  the  malaria  brought  by  Hannibal  may 
have  accelerated  the  decadence.  Even  the  contempo- 
rary enthusiasm  for  syndicalism  in  France,  if  it  in- 
volves abatement  of  love  for  la  patrie  because  of  more 
devotion  to  industrial  groupings,  is  degenerative  and 
can  end  only  as  a  soviet. 

One  of  the  most  clear  and  obvious  conclusions  from 
the  incomparably  complex  life  of  our  day,  so  full  of 
conflicts  between  such  innumerable  group  interests, 
and  especially  in  a  democracy,  is  that  the  chief  criter- 
ion of  true  leadership  is  the  power  to  compromise. 
All  those  in  power  must  be  ready  to  concede  and  to 

314 


accept  a  part  when  they  cannot  get  the  whole,  as  well 
as  sometimes  even  to  do  the  lesser  evil  to  secure  the 
greater  good.  Democratic  leaders  to-day  must  have 
the  team  spirit  and  submit  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
umpire.  Those  who  guide  the  Ship  of  State  must 
be  eager  to  get  half  a  loaf  if  they  cannot  get  the 
whole,  and  those  captains  or  mates,  be  they  presi- 
dents or  senators,  who  cannot  get  together  and  adjust 
differences  in  the  interests  of  the  whole  people  and 
of  the  world  are  not  pioneers  but  enemies  of  the  new 
order  of  things  now  dawning.  Irreconcilables  whose 
motto  is  "all  or  nothing,"  those  who  exult  in  the 
tyranny  of  majorities,  who  have  too  much  will  for 
their  heart,  their  conscience,  or  their  intellect,  mani- 
fest the  very  spirit  that  has  made  all  the  wars  in  his- 
tory. A  tonic  cramp  of  the  will,  whether  of  the  in- 
dividual or  a  rumpy  group  or  even  a  majority,  is  like 
scrap-iron  that  sabotages  the  delicate  machinery  of  a 
democracy. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MORALE   AND   "THE   REDS" 

The  intense  appeal  of  radicalism — The  need  of  a  new  type  of  pro- 
fessor of  economics — Hatred  of  the  "Reds"  for  nationalism  and 
substitution  of  war  between  classes  for  the  war  between  states — 
The  international  principle — What  Bolshevik  "nationalization" 
of  property  would  mean  in  this  country — Its  undemocracy — The 
religious  movement  vs.  it  in  Russia — Labor  reorganization  the 
hope  of  the  world. 

Red  radicalism  long  antedated  the  war,  which  has, 
however,  made  it  vastly  more  prevalent  and  formi- 
dable to  the  established  order  of  things  throughout 
the  civilized  world  than  it  has  ever  been  before  in 
history.  It  has  its  fanatics,  clever  propagandists,  and 
even  its  astute  and  more  or  less  scholarly  thinkers 
everywhere.  Besides  its  own  special  literature  widely 
and  surreptitiously  circulated,  despite  its  exclusion 
from  the  mails  and  its  penalization  and  frequent 
seizures,  and  its  open  and  covert  promulgation  by 
speakers  and  writers  who  are  its  avowed  disciples, 
there  are  far  more  subtle  advocates  of  its  principles 
whom  we  find  in  print  everywhere,  in  academic  halls, 
in  society,  and  these  "carriers"  of  the  infection  are 
themselves  often  hardly  conscious  that  they  are 
already  in  the  first  stages  of  the  disease;  and  many 
of  those  they  influence  are  already  half-persuaded, 
even  while  honestly  assuming  an  impartial  and  even 
negative  attitude  toward  it.  Very  likely  it  will  prove 

316 


MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

that  our  chief  danger  lies  in  these  intellectuals  and 
their  half-cultured,  naive,  and  half-conscious  ad- 
herents. It  is  impossible  to  define  radicalism  since 
it  has  so  many  forms,  stages,  and  parties  often  in- 
tensely hostile  to  each  other.  Its  fundamental  traits 
may,  however,  be  roughly  indicated  as  follows: 

1.  Labor.  Practically  all  "reds"  agree  with  Karl 
Marx  that  material  wealth,  if  not  all  property,  "origi- 
nated in  the  five  fingers  of  the  working  man."  They 
have  cleared  land,  made  it  fertile,  raised  all  the  crops, 
reared  every  kind  of  building,  created  and  operated 
all  the  agencies  of  transportation,  made  and  run  all 
machines,  etc.  Thus  if  working  men  the  world  over 
simply  folded  their  arms,  not  only  all  values  would 
shrivel  but  mankind  would  starve  or  freeze  and 
civilization  be  brought  to  a  standstill.  Workers  nu- 
merically outnumber  all  others,  and  if  they  combined, 
they  could  take  possession  of  the  world  any  day. 
Labor  does  not  even  yet  begin  to  realize  its  power 
and  its  prime  and  all-conditioning  importance  if  it 
would  only  unite,  and  this  is  because  of  its  age-long 
subjection  to  the  ruling  classes  who  exploit  it  but  are 
really  parasites  upon  it.  Hence  the  call  of  the  "reds'* 
to  the  toilers  is :  Awake,  arise,  open  your  eyes,  throw 
off  your  shackles,  organize,  and  be  ready  and  able, 
if  and  when  the  call  comes,  to  strike,  not  in  single 
trades,  localities,  or  even  countries  but  all  together 
and  everywhere  when  "the  day"  comes.  Instead  of 
being  underlings,  slaves,  or  "hands,"  as  if  labor  were 
a  commodity  to  be  bought  in  the  lowest  and  sold  in 

317 


the  highest  markets  like  others,  turn  the  tables  upon 
your  oppressors,  take  the  helm,  appropriate  the 
wealth  created  by  your  sweat  and  blood,  and  take 
your  rightful  place  in  the  sun  and  rule  the  world  in  a 
new  righteousness,  not  forgetting  that  simple  justice 
requires  that  your  oppressors  be  themselves  oppressed 
in  their  turn,  for  there  is  a  sense  in  which  not  only 
capital  but  all  property  is  robbery  for  which  restitu- 
tion, with  interest,  is  the  very  least  that  can  be 
demanded. 

Now,  first  of  all,  we  must  realize  what  a  toxin 
appeal  all  this  makes  to  even  the  most  ignorant  toiler. 
It  gives  him  a  rankling  sense  that  he  has  been  a  vic- 
tim of  age-long  injustice,  a  self-pity  that  may  rise  to 
patheticism,  a  rancor  against  our  whole  system,  not 
only  industrial  but  social,  moral,  and  even  religious, 
and  along  with  all  this  and  despite  its  inconsistency 
with  it  a  cankering  feeling  of  inferiority.  He  magni- 
fies all  the  confessed  abuses  of  which  the  world  is 
only  now  too  full,  and  becomes  suspicious  lest  ulter- 
ior and  sinister  designs  lurk  behind  even  the  most 
sincere  concessions  to  his  claims,  which  makes  all 
negotiations  vastly  harder. 

How  shall  we  set  a  backfire  to  this  appeal  of  radi- 
calism? This  is  perhaps  the  most  vital  question  of 
our  day,  and  I  can  only  suggest  a  few  lines  along 
which  we  may  approximate  an  answer.  First  of  all, 
we  must  realize,  and  sympathetically,  the  true  state 
of  mind  of  labor,  and  this  is  most  of  all  necessary  for 
employers,  the  vast  majority  of  whom  even  yet  have 

318 


MORALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

little  conception  of  the  depth  and  strength  of  the  un- 
rest, its  causes,  or  its  partial  justification.  Under 
the  most  favorable  conditions  we  can  never  again 
hope  for  industrial  peace  in  the  world  until  the  in- 
terests of  labor  and  capital  are  identified  by  some 
form  of  cooperation.  The  reds  say  labor  must  either 
rule  or  ruin.  Employees  must  be  in  a  sense  members 
of  the  firm,  share  all  its  prosperity,  be  trained  to  see 
its  interests,  and  pass  upon  all  its  policies  of  which 
they  are  capable.  They  must  also  be  in  a  position  to 
be  reasonably  assured  of  the  prime  needs  of  life — 
food,  raiment,  shelter,  recreation,  intellectual  activ- 
ity, provision  for  wife  and  child  and  for  accident  and 
old  age,  must  be  able  with  diligence  to  accumulate 
property,  and  enjoy  reasonable  tranquillity  and 
activity  of  mind.  These  are  the  irreducible  minima. 
They  are  felt  to  be  the  inalienable  right  of  every  effi- 
cient human  being,  especially  in  our  land  of  prosper- 
ity. Those  who  stand  in  the  way  of  attainment  of 
any  of  these  legitimate  goals  are  the  real  enemies  of 
society.  It  is  they  who  are  in  no  small  part  responsi- 
ble for  the  present  industrial  unrest,  especially  in 
our  own  land.  Even  Bakunin,  the  apostle  of  destruc- 
tion, advised  that  the  rankest  exploiters  and  profi- 
teers of  labor  be  exempted  from  its  vengeance  when 
its  day  comes,  as  object  lessons  of  what  their  class 
could  do  in  order  to  enflame  to  a  still  higher  pitch 
the  just  rancor  against  them. 

Our  great  captains  of  industry  should  especially 
unite  to  employ  experts  like  C.  H.  Parker,  Ordway 

319 


MORALE 

Tead,Glenn  Frank,  John  Spargo,  A.  Henderson,  Boyd 
Fisher,  J.  R.  Commons,  Meyer  Bloomfield,  Mackenzie 
King,  Robert  Bruere,  etc.,  of  whom  we  most  fortu- 
nately and  opportunely  now  have  increasing  numbers, 
to  work  at  the  great  centers  of  unrest,  explore  in  the 
most  sympathetic  way  the  actual  attitude  and  opera- 
tions of  the  minds  of  radicals  of  high  and  low  degree, 
an'd  suggest  antidotes  for  the  morbific  germs,  the  in- 
fection of  which  is  now  more  and  more  widespread. 
In  fact,  the  trope  of  antibodies  is  misleading,  for  the 
"reds"  generally  suffer  from  half  or  partial  truths 
which  need  only  to  be  made  complete.  Their  instincts 
are  generally  sound  and  their  feelings  right,  but  bad 
leadership  has  given  them  perverted  expressions 
which  need  to  be  corrected.  It  is  because  the  mind 
of  labor  has  been  so  neglected  that  it  has  become  in- 
fected with  the  cheap  plausibilities  of  anarchistic  and 
nihilistic  agitators  from  whose  influence  better  in- 
formation and  more  insight  will  emancipate  the  work- 
man. If  normal  and  informed,  his  morale  is  the  best 
in  the  world,  although  it  may  so  readily  become  the 
worst  if  perverted.  When  the  red  agitators  cry,  "Do 
not  burn  but  read  and  answer  our  arguments,"  we 
should  accept  their  challenge,  which  is  by  no  means 
a  formidable  one. 

Meanwhile  we  must  not  forget  that  labor  without 
capital  and  well-trained  leadership  is  a  blind  Poly- 
phemus. We  can  never  undo  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion, which  created  factories  and  mass  production, 
radical  as  is  the  reorganization  now  demanded.  Nor 

320 


MOEALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

must  we  forget  that  capital  in  the  world  as  it  is,  de- 
spite all  its  outrageous  abuses,  is  on  the  whole  the 
strongest  incentive  to  enterprise  and  originality,  and 
to  make  the  acquisition  of  wealth  impossible  would 
bring  paralysis.  If  we  could  only  make  wealth,  as  it 
should  always  and  everywhere  be,  a  true  measure  of 
service,  it  would  differentiate  men  very  greatly,  so 
that  we  should  have  the  deservedly  rich  and  poor,  as 
God  and  Nature  intended  them  to  be  because  of  their 
vast  diversities  of  gifts.  To  take  away  rewards  ac- 
cording to  merit  would  be  to  fly  in  the  face  of  human 
nature,  to  ignore  the  fact  that  history  is  largely  what 
great  men  have  made  it,  and  to  perpetuate  the  in- 
veterate and  tragic  blunder  of  assuming  that  men 
are  or  even  can  or  should  be  equal  in  anything  save 
opportunity. 

Colossal  as  is  this  task  of  converting  capital  from 
its  predatory  greed,  to  abolish  it  is  the  most  fatuous 
of  all  iridescent  dreams,  and  I  am  optimistic  enough 
to  believe  that  it  is  already  beginning  to  see  the  error 
of  its  ways  and  to  realize  the  need  of  not  merely  con- 
ference and  compromise  but,  what  is  far  better,  arbi- 
tration, and  that  it  is  already  well  on  the  way  to  ad- 
mit labor  to  full  participation  and  cooperation  in  all 
its  enterprises  because  such  schemes  are  working  so 
well  that  self-interest  will  impel  them  much  farther 
along  this  line. 

2.  The  second  tenet  of  the  "reds"  everywhere  is 
war,  universal  and  implacable,  but  no  longer  of  na- 
tions and  races  against  each  other  but  of  class  against 

321 


class  within  every  nation  and  race.  The  proletariat 
must  war  not  only  against  rulers  and  autocracies  but 
no  less,  if  not  more  so,  against  the  rich,  and  perhaps 
most  of  all  against  the  middle  classes  or  bourgeoisie. 
For  the  "reds"  the  whole  existing  order  of  things  is 
rotten.  They  would  overthrow  all  governments,  and 
close  every  Parliament  or  Congress  because  these  are 
dominated  by  high  finance  which  would  oppress  la- 
bor. In  Kussia  radicalism  has  already  disfranchised 
those  who  held  office  under  the  old  regime,  the  priest- 
hood, employers  of  laborers,  however  few;  it  has  con- 
fiscated or  "nationalized"  government-owned  prop- 
erty, estates  and  possessions  of  the  rich,  seized  the 
banks,  public  buildings,  post  offices,  the  means  of 
transportation  and  communication,  church  prop- 
erty, the  press,  advertising  agencies,  of  which  it 
makes  great  use,  seems  to  have  made  void  insurance 
policies,  and  has  made  inheritance  impossible.  The 
army  is  to  be  made  strong,  and  many  of  its  officers  are 
elected  by  the  soldiers.  Most  reds  went  further  and 
believed  that  the  dominion  of  labor  and  of  the  pro- 
letariat must  be  brought  in  by  a  revolutionary  reign 
of  terror,  such  as  Bakunin  advocated  and  the  French 
Eevolution  partially  illustrated,  and  which  is  akin  to 
the  Teutonic  military  policy  of  frightfulness  and 
atrocities ;  hence  the  coup  that  brought  the  Bolsheviks 
into  power  and  the  massacres  that  followed  it.  "The 
existing  order  of  things  must  be  so  exterminated  that 
no  germ  of  it  remains  from  which  it  can  grow  again," 
and  to  this  end  anarchy  and  slaughter  must  usher  in 

322 


MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

the  new  dispensation.  Not  only  assassination,  bombs, 
sabotage,  and  executions  but  some  believed  even  mas- 
sacres should  be  a  necessary  first  step  to  the  great 
overturn  throughout  the  world  in  order  to  bring  in 
panic  a  new  realization  of  not  only  the  strength  but 
the  desperate  purpose  of  the  radicals.  A  period,  then, 
of  destruction  must  precede  the  great  reconstruction, 
and  those  who  will  not  yield  must  be  exterminated, 
for  only  when  ruthlessness  has  done  its  work  upon 
the  ~beati  possedentes  can  an  era  of  real  peace  come 
to  the  world.  "Destruction  is  creative."  The  masses 
must  launch  a  new  curse  of  God,  or  rather  of  Satan, 
of  whom  Bakunin  and  his  followers  avowed  them- 
selves disciples,  against  the  classes.  Never  lias  there 
been  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  living  under 
any  civilization  who  profoundly  believed  it  a  sham,  a 
fraud,  and  an  infamous  iniquity,  as  now.  This  is  not 
mere  kurophobia  or  horror  of  authority,  a  fanatical 
passion  for  limitless  freedom,  degraded  into  license 
to  do,  say,  and  be  anything  without  let  or  hindrance, 
but  beneath  all  this  there  is  often  a  rancor  nothing 
less  than  murderous  against  all  who  hold  positions  of 
power,  wealth,  or  influence.  Envy,  thus,  often  grows 
to  hate,  and  hate  may  culminate  in  assassination. 

The  Decembrist  revolt,  which  was  so  bloodily  sup- 
pressed in  1825,  was  organized  largely  by  intellec- 
tuals and  embraced  many  from  the  upper  classes,  and 
down  to  the  rise  of  Bolshevism,  which  aims  to  be 
purely  proletarian,  many  of  the  best  minds  in  Russia 
have  advocated  not  only  revolution  but  violence.  But 

323 


MOEALE 

with  the  fall  of  Kerensky  and  the  disintegration  and 
collapse  of  the  army,  the  masses,  led  by  the  extrem- 
ists, took  the  helm,  and  the  moderates  gave  way  to 
radicals  who  believed  that  any  means  were  justified 
to  accomplish  their  ends,  and  who  preached  the  gos- 
pel of  despair  and  revenge  for  the  generations  of 
awful  injustice  which  Czarism  had  caused  for  serfs, 
peasants  and  working  men. 

ID  answer  to  all  this  we  must  admit  that  the  his- 
tory of  Russia  is  a  story  of  oppression  without  par- 
allel even  in  the  treatment  of  plebeians  by  the  pa- 
tricians of  ancient  Kome,  or  of  the  Jacquerie  by  the 
aristocrats  in  pre-revolutionary  France.  The  moral 
is  that  the  suffering  masses  may  suffer  much  and 
long,  but  eventually  they  will  rise  in  their  might  and 
the  persecuted  become  the  persecutors.  The  god  of 
History  simply  had  to  wreak  vengeance  for  such  an 
accumulation  of  outrages;  otherwise  he  would  be 
asleep  or  dead,  and  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as 
retributive  justice  in  the  world.  Thus  we  must,  first 
of  all,  recognize  that  among  all  who  love  liberty  and 
believe  in  justice  throughout  the  world,  there  is  a 
deep  if  half-unconscious  trace  of  sympathy  even  with 
the  excesses  of  the  Russian  reds.  Certainly  they 
never  could  have  come  into  control  without  an  initial 
program  of  terror,  which,  however,  they  promise  to 
forego  when  their  rule  is  secured,  and  this  rule  they 
seem  to  believe  is  to  be  so  beneficent  that  it  will  in 
the  end  justify  all  the  bloodshed  and  cruelty  since 
the  coup  d'etat  that  brought  them  into  power.  The 

324 


MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

Muscovite  temperament  cannot  hold  theories  in  abey- 
ance or  cold  storage  but  must  rush  them  into  practice. 
If  the  goal  is  Slavic  solidarity,  although  the  leaders 
claim  allegiance  to  the  future  rather  than  to  the  past, 
they  must  not  break  with  the  far  more  idealistic 
revolutionists  of  the  nineteenth  century,  who  pre- 
pared the  intellectual  soil  for  their  now  purely  eco- 
nomic and  material  regime,  and  above  all  they  must, 
before  anything  can  be  finally  settled,  adopt  a  policy 
that  will  unite  all  classes  and  mitigate  instead  of  in- 
tensify class  conflicts. 

3.  The  third  trait  of  all  reds  is  inter-  if  not 
anti-nationalism.  To  them  all  states  are  obstructions 
to  progress.  The  world  is  their  only  country — that 
is,  the  world  of  toilers,  and  they  anathematize  pa- 
triotism and  are  jealous  of  all  wars  between  nations 
as  so  much  loss  to  their  holy  war  of  class  against 
class.  Wars  in  the  past  have  been  a  great  factor  in 
uniting  nationals  of  all  social  and  industrial  grades, 
and  this  is  the  basis  of  the  falsely  called  pacifism  of 
radicals.  In  Russia  the  "red"  leaders  can  never  for- 
get that  the  First  International  (London,  1864)  was 
aborted  by  the  War  of  1870,  in  which  French  and 
Germans  of  all  classes  preferred  country  to  a  dena- 
tionalized cause,  forgot  internationalism,  and  fol- 
lowed the  flag,  fighting  each  other  regardless  of  the 
bonds  of  class  brotherhood.  Still  greater  was  the  dis- 
may of  the  "reds"  that  despite  all  their  safeguards 
against  it,  the  Second  International  (Paris,  1889) 
met  the  same  fate  in  the  great  war  of  1914.  To  the 

325 


MORALE 

red  mind  all  wars  between  states  and  empires,  which 
always  end  by  making  the  poor  poorer  and  the  rich 
richer,  are  begun  for  one  or  both  of  the  following 
ends,  conquest  and  plunder,  or  else  to  avert  class  and 
labor  war  within.  When  internal  revolution  seems 
imminent,  monarchs  and  their  counsellors,  who  since 
the  French  Revolution  have  an  almost  sleepless 
phobia  of  inner  revolts,  declare  war  on  each  other  to 
divert  attention  from  evils  within,  and  to  be  able  to 
unite  all  classes  and  factions  in  defence  against  an 
outer  foe.  It  was  this  view  of  wars  that  motivated 
the  disgraceful  peace  at  Brest-Litovsk,  which  it  was 
hoped  would  divert  all  the  energies  of  pugnacity  back 
to  its  normal  field,  viz.,  the  civil  war  of  classes.  The 
reds  are  thus  jealous  of  all  outer  antagonisms  and 
animosities.  To  be  ruled  by  one  or  another  of  existing 
states  is  only  a  choice  between  evils  almost  equally 
great,  for  president,  czar,  or  kaiser;  congress,  parlia- 
ment, or  duma,  are  equally  capitalistic  and  are  chiefly 
bent  on  enslaving  labor. 

Even  the  almost  world- wide  propaganda  of  Bolshe- 
vism, which  now  plays  so  important  a  role  in  their 
policy,  is  to  make  sure  that  whatever  happens,  there 
shall  be  no  similar  third  debacle  of  internationalism. 
Hence  the  ever-recurring  slogan  of  the  Third  Inter- 
national of  March,  1919,  seventy-two  years  after  the 
famous  manifesto  of  Marx  and  Engels,  is  "Workers 
of  all  lands,  unite !"  The  task  now  is  not  reform  of 
existing  institutions  but  to  establish  a  new  revolu- 
tionary dictatorship  of  the  lower  classes.  Hence 

S26 


MORALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

civil  war  against  those  in  power  must  be  declared  in 
all  lands.  Special  appeals  are  made  to  "colonial 
slaves."  It  is  the  oligarchy  now  in  power  that  is  held 
responsible  for  all  the  horror  and  disasters  of  the  re- 
cent war.  Any  league  of  nations  would  only  strength- 
en their  strangle-hold  upon  the  deluded  people.  The 
League  is  simply  world  capitalism  organizing  to  sub- 
ject mankind.  Hence  we  must  "transform  the  whole 
world  into  one  cooperative  community  and  bring 
about  real  human  brotherhood  and  freedom."  The 
French  syndicalists  are  nearly  right  but  are  really 
outside  because  their  aims  are  confined  within  na- 
tional limits.  "The  revolutionary  era  compels  the 
proletariat  to  make  use  of  the  means  of  battle  which 
will  concentrate  its  entire  energies  by  mass  action, 
with  its  logical  resultant,  direct  conflict  with  gov- 
ernmental machinery  in  open  combat."  German  im- 
perialism revealed  its  traitorous  character  by  its 
bloody  deeds  in  Russia,  and  now  the  Entente  is  un- 
masked as  a  group  of  murderers  throttling  revolt  by 
their  barbaric  colonial  soldiery.  Indescribable  is  the 
white  terror  of  the  bourgeois  cannibals;  incredible 
are  the  sufferings  of  the  working  classes.  The  inter- 
ests and  problems  of  the  workers  of  the  world,  who 
constitute  its  great  majority,  are  identical  in  all 
lands  and  in  all  industries.1 

Many  organizations  in  this  country,  as  well  as  all 
others,  are  now  seeking  to  infect  laborers  throughout 

1  Red  Radicalism.  By  A.  Mitchell  Palmer.  (Manifesto  of  the 
Communist  International,  adopted  at  Moscow,  March,  1919.)  Wash., 
Govt.  Print.  Office,  1919. 

327 


the  world  with  all  the  rancor  bred  in  Kussia  by  gen- 
erations of  czarism.  These  views  are  covertly  diffused 
by  very  astute  colporteurs  in  India,  Ireland,  Egypt, 
and  all  the  great  colonies  where  natives  are  intelli- 
gent enough  to  receive  them;  and  indeed  it  requires 
little  but  selfish  interest  to  be  enflamed  by  these 
crude  appeals  to  unrest  and  the  lust  of  gain  and 
spoliation,  for  the  "all-power-to-the-Soviet"  policy 
has  no  more  regard  for  race  and  language  than  it 
has  for  nationalism. 

All  in  all,  this  is  the  world's  most  terrible  object 
lesson  of  democratization  gone  mad,  and  neither  pub- 
licists, statesmen,  economists,  nor  sociologists  have 
yet  fully  understood  its  strong  and  subtle  appeal,  real- 
ized its  ever  growing  power,  and  are  still  less  able  to 
correct  it.  And  no  wonder,  for  it  now  preaches  things 
hitherto  undreamed  in  their  philosophy,  and  our 
leaders  might  well  exclaim  with  Hamlet,  "The  time  is 
out  of  joint;  Oh  cursed  spite,  that  ever  I  was  born 
to  set  it  right."  We  knew  the  radical  theories  of 
Marx,  Engels,  and  LaSalle  but  thought  them  subtle 
sophists,  and  at  most  believed  the  revolution  they  pre- 
dicted far  in  the  future,  if  indeed  it  was  ever  possible. 
But  it  is  upon  us  and  is  the  most  real  fact  and  the 
most  pressing  problem  of  the  present. 

A  Senate  Committee2  report  tells  us  that  Bolshe- 
vism in  this  country  now  would  mean  confiscation  or 
"nationalization"  of  land,  including  6,361,502  farms, 
of  which  62.1%  are  owned  in  fee  by  the  farmers  who 

'Congressional  Record,  Dec.  12,  1919. 

328 


MORALE  AND  "THE  KEDS" 

cultivate  them,  and  also  the  improvements,  machin- 
ery, and  live  stock  on  them  to  the  value  of  nearly 
forty-one  billion  dollars  (census  of  1910) ;  of  275,000 
manufacturing  establishments,  including  more  than 
twenty-two  billion  dollars  of  invested  capital,  much 
of  which  is  owned  by  small  investors;  of  203,432 
church  edifices;  of  forests  aggregating  555,000,000 
acres,  with  an  annual  product  of  one  and  one-third 
billion  dollars;  of  seventeen  million  dwellings,  of 
which  nine  million  are  owned  in  fee  and  five  million 
are  free  from  debt;  of  22,896  newspapers  and  peri- 
odicals and  their  equipment ;  of  our  31,492  banks  with 
their  eleven  million  depositors  drawing  interest  from 
savings,  and  consequently  belonging  to  the  bourgeois 
class.  There  is  twenty  per  cent,  more  life  insurance 
in  force  in  this  country  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  nine-tenths  of  which  is  mutual,  with  fifty  mil- 
lion policies  representing  thirty  billion  dollars.  This, 
too,  would  be  seized,  and  the  protection  it  renders 
would  be  made  valueless.  The  abolition  of  194,759 
Sunday  schools,  with  their  nineteen  million  pupils, 
would  take  place,  and  church  property  valued  at  over 
one  and  one-half  billion  dollars  would  be  seized.  In 
addition  nearly  forty-two  million  members  of  227,487 
church  organizations  would  be  subjected  to  the  domi- 
nation of  atheist  dictatorship. 

Not  only  are  all  owners  of  property  beyond  an 
amount  so  limited  that  it  would  include  a  very  large 
portion  of  our  citizenry  (and  we  do  not  know  what 
would  happen  to  our  circa  nine  thousand  millionaires 

329 


MORALE 

under  this  regime)  disfranchised,  but  the  power  to 
vote  is  so  conditioned  and  handicapped  that  the  Bol- 
shevik system  rests  upon  no  very  broad  foundation. 
Those  who  vote  do  so  not  by  parties  but  by  trades  or 
crafts;  that  is,  they  can  elect  to  the  local  body  a 
member  of  their  own  vocation,  and  with  this  their 
responsibility  and  influence  in  the  state  ceases.  The 
members  of  this  local  soviet  vote  to  elect  members  of 
the  rural  soviet,  its  members  vote  for  the  provincial, 
and  the  provincial  for  the  All-Russian  Congress.  The 
members  of  the  higher  body,  therefore,  are  removed 
at  least  two  or  three  times  from  the  voter  himself. 
The  city  voters,  who  include  for  the  most  part  work- 
ers in  factories  and  also  soldiers  and  sailors,  are  given 
about  five  times  as  much  voting  power  as  the  peasants. 
For  instance,  if  a  member  of  the  All-Russian  Con- 
gress represents  the  city,  there  is  one  for  every  25,000 
votes ;  but  if  the  farmers  or  peasants,  one  for  120,000. 
In  the  regional  units  for  city  dwellers  there  is  one 
representative  to  every  5,000  voters;  in  the  country, 
one  to  every  25,000,  so  that  even  the  peasants  are  to 
this  extent  disfranchised.  Peasants,  then,  who  com- 
prisie  the  majority  in  Russia,  have  only  one-fifth  of 
the  voting  power  of  soldiers,  sailors,  and  factory 
hands  and  city  laborers,  showing  the  deep-seated  dis- 
trust in  which  they  are  held. 

The  All-Russian  Congress  is  very  large  and  un- 
wieldy, and  hence  appoints  a  committee  of  two  hun- 
dred members;  and  this  committee,  still  further  re- 
moved from  the  people,  selects  an  executive  commit- 

330 


MOEALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

tee  of  seventeen,  called  the  council  of  the  people's 
commissars,  each  member  of  which  presides  over  an- 
other committee  chosen  by  the  Council,  which  exer- 
cises the  functions  of  a  cabinet  department  of  the 
government;  Lenin,  e.  g.,  being  chairman  of  the 
Foreign  Relations  Committee,  and  Trotzky  of  that 
of  the  Army  and  Navy.  kWith  this  hierarchy  it  can 
hardly  be  said  that  the  leaders  are  responsible  to  the 
people,  or  indeed  to  the  country,  but  only  to  a  com- 
mittee; and  as  the  vast  majority  of  people  in  all  but 
six  of  the  fifty  provinces  of  Russia  are  agriculturists, 
in  addition  to  the  wholesale  disfranchisement  and  re- 
duction of  food  rations  to  those  who  cannot  vote,  such 
a  scheme  cannot  be  called  democratic.  It  stands 
throughout  for  class  selfishness,  and  kills  loyalty  to 
the  country  just  as  its  property  limitations  kill  am- 
bition. Each  delegate  of  the  people  has  in  view  not 
his  country  or  even  a  part  of  it,  but  his  awn  trade, 
which,  again,  stresses  selfishness.  Hence  the  general 
impression  of  instability  of  the  entire  system.3 

The  animosity  of  those  in  power  against  the  Church 
is  intense.*  They  abhor  the  ideal  of  any  hope  beyond 

*  Isaac  Don  Levin :  The  Russian  Revolution,  N.  T.,  Harper,  1917. 
280  pp. ;  Angelo  S.  Rappoport :  Pioneers  of  the  Russian  Revolution, 
Lond.,  Paul,  1918.  281  pp. ;  F.  A.  Palmieri :  Theorists  of  the  Russian 
Revolution,  Cath.  World,  Vol.  108,  p.  575;  Robert  Hunter:  Bolshev- 
ism and  the  Labor  Movement,  Lond.,  1918.  338  pp. ;  Peter  Graevenitz : 
From  Autocracy  to  Bolshevism.  Lond.,  Allen  &  Unwin,  1918.  128 
pp. ;  John  Spargo,  Psychology  of  Bolshevism,  N.  Y.,  Harper,  1919. 
150  pp. ;  Daniel  Dorchester :  Bolshevism  and  Social  Revolt,  N.  Y.,  1919. 
122  pp. ;  C.  E.  Russell :  Bolshevism  and  the  United  States,  Ind.,  Bobbs- 
Merrill,  1919.  341  pp. ;  Catherine  Breshkovsky :  Russia  and  the 
World,  N.  Y.,  Russian  Information  Bur.,  1919.  30  pp. ;  John  Spargo : 
Bolshevism,  N.  Y.,  Harper,  1919.  P.  F.  Brissenden :  The  I.  W.  W., 
A  Study  of  American  Syndicalism,  N.  Y.,  Longmans,  Green,  1919. 
432  pp. ;  E.  Antonelli :  Bolshevik  Russia,  N.  Y.,  Knopf,  1920.  307  pp. 

331 


MORALE 

the  grave  as  an  obstacle  to  the  realization  of  their 
communist  ideal,  but  rather  promise  all  good  things 
in  the  Here  and  Now.  They  call  religion  "opium  for 
the  people,"  a  tool  of  capitalist  domination,  and  are 
jealous  of  any  spiritual  bond.  The  truest  work  is 
physical  labor,  and  already  the  antagonism  between 
the  town  and  the  country,  between  the  well-to-do 
peasants  and  the  poor  day  laborers,  is  bitter,  for  pros- 
perity invites  not  only  denunciation  as  an  enemy  of 
the  people,  but  those  who  rise  above  mediocrity  pro- 
voke jealousy  and  are  in  danger  of  spoliation  for  any 
surplus  is  liable  to  requisition.  Hence  the  partial  pa- 
ralysis everywhere  of  productive  activity  in  the  social 
decomposition  of  this  material  Utopia.  The  real  op- 
ponent of  this,  and  perhaps  just  now  the  chief  hope 
of  Russia,  is  the  religious  movement,  which  began 
very  soon  after  the  revolution  of  1917.  The  Church 
had  been  identified  with  the  State,  and  its  priests 
were  state  functionaries.  Hence  they  were  charged 
with  devotion  to  the  old  regime,  the  churches  were 
pillaged,  and  in  one  province  one-tenth  of  the  priests 
assassinated,  often  with  the  greatest  cruelty.  The 
church  of  Holy  Russia  is  not  international  like 
Catholicism,  but  intensely  national,  and  it  was  the 
first  to  regain  its  morale.  This  was  shown  in  an  im- 
mense assembly  in  the  streets  of  Moscow  in  1918 
"when  every  individual  present  was  there  at  the  peril 
of  his  life."  "In  this  vast  assembly  was  found  every 

*  See   Prince   Troubetzkoy's   The   Bolshevist   Utopia   and   the  Re- 
ligious Movement  in  Russia,  Hibbert  Journal,  Jan.,  1920. 

332 


MORALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

rank  of  society,  and  classes  did  not  exist.  All  would 
lay  down  their  lives  for  the  faith  of  Russia,  and  this 
was  the  rebirth  of  the  national  self-consciousness," 
for  it  is  religion  that  is  bringing  classes  into  friendly 
relations.  When  everything  else  went  to  pieces,  the 
Church  alone  retained  its  integrity,  cemented  by  the 
blood  of  thousands  of  new  martyrs.  The  Church  un- 
dertook the  great  national  work  of  combating  an- 
archy. There  was  no  other  national  assembly 
throughout  the  nation,  and  it  was  profoundly  felt 
that  the  safety  of  Russia  could  only  be  secured  by 
spiritual  regeneration.  When  the  army  was  disin- 
tegrating, the  Church  alone  dared  to  remind  the  sol- 
dier of  his  oath  and  tried  to  stem  the  shameful  flight 
of  troops,  and  the  assassination  of  officers,  and  also 
fought  the  war  of  classes  in  the  army. 

The  great  work  of  the  Moscow  Council  was  to  re- 
store the  patriarchal  power,  which  has  combined  to 
an  unusual  degree  the  religious  and  national  motives. 
Its  members  were  inspired  by  the  Patriarch,  Hermog- 
enes,  who  saved  Russia  during  the  anarchy  after  the 
fall  of  the  old  dynasty  of  the  czars  in  the  17th  centu- 
ry. Thus  while  Moscow  was  still  bombarded,  the 
Church  drew  up  her  answer  to  the  fratricidal  con- 
flict, and  a  Patriarch  was  enthroned  under  a  dome 
pierced  by  a  Bolshevik  shell.  The  new  Patriarch, 
Tykone,  a  gentle  soul  and  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
highest  morale,  proved  a  wonderful  helmsman  of  the 
Church  through  the  hurricane.  He  rose  to  the  height 
of  all  that  was  required,  anathematized  the  govern- 

333 


MOKALE 

ment  in  a  document  which  many  priests  were  killed 
for  reading,  called  the  execution  of  the  Czar  a  crime 
"without  a  name  and  with  no  excuse,"  condemned  the 
treacheries,  brigandage,  and  murder  of  those  in  pow- 
er, and  came  to  represent  a  power  that  stirred  Rus- 
sia  to  its  depths  by  the  grandeur  of  the  moral  forces 
that  have  been  set  into  action  under  the  slogan, 
"Christ  is  risen." 

The  soviet  principle  of  rule  by  representation  by 
different  industrial  groups,  instead  of  by  delegates 
chosen  from  geographical  and  political  localities, 
has  a  vitality  and  possibility  of  development  in  it 
which  statesmen  reared  under  the  present  system  can 
never  begin  to  realize.  Many  tentatives  the  world 
over  had  prepared  the  way  for  it  and  have  helped 
make  its  diffusion  so  rapid.  Every  form  of  trades 
unionism  has  brought  a  new  sense  of  craft  brother- 
hood, helped  on  by  all  trade  schools  and  the  new 
vocational  consciousness  and  loyalty  culminating  in 
syndicalism.  In  Russia  the  Zemstvos,  which  had  long 
given  a  progressively  restricted  form  of  self-govern- 
ment of  local  communities,  awoke  to  a  new  activity 
early  in  the  war  uniting  in  an  All-Russian  Union,  to 
first  provide  food  and  then  to  supply  munitions  to  the 
soldiers,  till  all  classes  realized  the  insufficiency  of 
the  Prussianized  government  and  its  often  traitorous 
officials  which  had  kept  the  army  without  supplies. 
The  soviet  strove  and  in  no  small  degree  succeeded  in 
becoming  the  heir  to  the  spirit  and  tendencies  of  the 
Zemstvos.  In  China  the  gildic  organizations,  which 

.  334 


MORALE  AND  "THE  BEDS" 

have  for  centuries  supplemented  the  inefficiency  of 
the  political  government,  and  which  are  largely  re- 
sponsible for  the  unique  stability  of  Chinese  society, 
have,  especially  in  the  student  movements  of  that 
country  now  so  dominating  in  their  influence,  devel- 
oped the  keenest  interest  in  the  soviet  principle  as 
something  China  will  sooner  or  later  profit  by. 

The  soviet  principle  has  in  it  almost  unlimited  pos- 
sibilities, relatively  few  of  which  Bolshevism,  which 
adapted  and  adopted  it,  has  yet  realized.  To  limit 
salaries  or  income  generally  is  no  intrinsic  part  but 
rather  a  perversion  and  arrest  of  it.  Mankind  will 
never  for  long  tolerate  a  system  which  forbids  the 
recognition  of  individual  differences  in  value  of  ser- 
vices performed.  The  middle  and  even  the  upper 
classes  will  have  little  difficulty  in  coming  to  terms 
with  it  wherever  it  has  become  established,  and  slowly 
will  transform  the  dead  and  low-leveling  tendencies 
which  were  proclaimed  as  its  initial  radical  form.  It 
will  inevitably  change  its  character  in  the  cultural 
task  that  confronts  it  of  reorganizing  the  industries 
and  other  institutions  of  the  world,  and  its  radical 
factors  are  sure  to  be  reduced.  Meanwhile  govern- 
ment by  political  parties,  the  older  rival  system,  is 
everywhere  showing  its  deficiencies.  The  paralysis 
of  our  Senate  and  chief  executive  has  probably  done 
most  to  breed  a  deep  if  yet  half-unconscious  distrust 
of  our  present  democratic  representative  system. 
Even  those  most  loyal  to  it  are  disturbed  by  a  deep 
new  anxiety  not  only  as  to  its  efficiency  but  as  to  its 

335 


MOEALE 

being  intrinsically  the  'best  way  of  effecting  the  rule 
of  the  people.  To-day  our  government  is  less  re- 
spected and  less  trusted  than  ever  before  in  our  his- 
tory. Ignorance  and  partisan  rancor  have  combined 
to  make  it  incapable  of  effective  action  when  more 
and  greater  issues  than  ever  before  are  pressing  for 
settlement,  and  every  thoughtful  man  is  pondering 
in  his  heart  whether  a  group  of  intelligent  business 
men  and  laborers  would  not  be  better  trustees  of  the 
vital  and  ever  widening  interests  of  this  country.  We 
are  trained  to  abhor  control  by  "the  interests"  as 
suggestive  of  monopolies  and  trusts;  but  are  even 
these  worse  than  control  by  interests  of  parties,  the 
platforms  of  which  differ  so  little  and  the  conflicts 
of  which  have  ceased  to  be  for  principles  and  become 
almost  solely  for  the  vast  and  growing  patronage 
that  falls  to  the  victor. 

The  danger  of  tyranny  by  kings  and  autocracies  has 
gone  forever,  and  the  world  is  committed  to  democ- 
racy of  some  sort,  which  is  now  not  only  safe  but  tri- 
umphant. A  world-wide  Declaration  of  Independence 
from  predatory  capitalism  was  the  psychological  next 
step.  The  soviet  principle  asserts  the  inalienable 
right  of  man  against  the  exploitation  of  profiteer  and 
monopolist  and  the  tyranny  of  soulless  corporations. 
The  strength  and  prestige  of  these  the  war  has  im- 
paired in  Europe  so  that  a  new  balance  of  power 
between  capitalism  and  productive  labor  is  in  process 
of  being  found,  and  the  struggle  thus  involved  seems 
likely  to  be  more  severe  in  this  land  than  in  any 

336 


MOKALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

other.  Eussia  naturally  made  the  first  epochful  effort 
to  work  out  the  soviet  principle,  but  at  present  it 
seems  doubtful  whether  it  can  carry  it  through  to 
its  logical  consequences.  The  practical  genius  of 
Lenin  began,  as  it  needs  must,  with  the  ideal  of  pro- 
letarian control,  for  in  that  country  labor  conditions, 
not  only  in  the  agrarian  regions  but  especially  in  the 
factories,  were  the  worst  possible.  But  the  perma- 
nent exclusion  of  the  middle  and  upper  classes  from 
their  share  of  power  is  impossible.  As  the  prole- 
tarian "majority"  come  into  control,  the  other  classes 
will  rapidly  fall  into  line  and  must  be  given  their 
true  place  in  any  new  order  that  will  stand.  Every- 
thing now  depends  on  the  ability  of  the  soviet  leaders 
to  organize  upward  till  each  class  has  its  proper 
place. 

In  fine,  psychology  sees  one  way,  and  one  only,  of 
setting  a  backfire  to  Bolshevism  and  its  perversion 
of  the  soviet  idea,  and  that  is  by  effecting  the  reor- 
ganization of  industry  on  a  broad  cooperative  basis 
and  giving  the  world  an  object  lesson  of  harmony  and 
efficiency  in  production,  with  the  recognition  of  the 
primacy  of  the  human  factor,  in  order  to  substitute 
mutual  good  will  for  unrest  and  conflicts.  We  should 
rely  no  longer  on  the  summary  intrusion  of  courts, 
should  give  up  the  idea  of  transferring  industrial  prob- 
lems to  governmental  bureaucracies,  and  still  more 
we  should  avoid  everything  which  will  cause  the  more 
isolated  and  independent  organization  of  laborers 
versus  employers,  for  this  intensifies  the  class  con- 

337 


MORALE 

sciousness  of  both  and  can  only  result  in  more  set 
crystallized  forms  of  opposition.  We  should  waste 
no  time  in  trying  to  limit  the  worker's  inalienable 
right  to  strike  and  to  bargain  collectively,  and  should 
attempt  no  more  raids  or  deportations.  Labor  and 
capital  must  speedily  abandon  their  long  and  invet- 
erate antagonisms  and  unite  their  interests  and  sym- 
pathies, each  recognizing  the  rights,  functions,  place, 
and  needs  of  the  other.  Bolshevism  with  its  crude 
and  violent  solution  is  already  and  will  still  more  be 
upon  us,  and  most  of  the  best  that  has  been  accom- 
plished, and  yet  better  things  which  now  seem  possi- 
ble, will  be  lost,  and  we  shall  sink  back  to  a  cruder  and 
more  primitive  condition  and  the  economic  and  social 
wrorld  will  have  to  rebuild  itself  almost  from  the  bot- 
tom unless  we  are  prepared  to  meet  this  crisis.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  morale  to  organize 
industries  on  the  basis  of  a  fair  wage  and  fair  profit, 
so  that  each  member  of  a  concern  shall  be  advantaged 
by  all,  and  with  full  identification  of  interests  and  a 
new  consciousness  of  unity,  Bolshevism  can  make  no 
appeal,  for  we  shall  have  already  attained  the  goal 
which  it  will  take  it  decades  if  not  generations  to 
reach. 

The  alternative  the  world  now  faces  is  either  a  new 
industrial  peace  or  Bolshevism.  We  must  change 
the  present  system  or  it  is  doomed  to  destruction 
with  a  long  and  painful  period  of  reevolution.  At 
present  no  one  is  doing  so  much  to  drive  the  world  to 
Bolshevism  as  the  exploiter  of  labor  on  the  one  hand, 

338 


MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

and  the  rabid  laborite  on  the  other.  It  is  hard  to  say 
which  is  the  most  dangerous  or  inimical  to  society, 
for  both  are  promoters  of  the  very  class  war  on  which 
Bolshevism  thrives.  All  conciliatory  spirits  in  either 
camp,  who  really  seek  concord,  can  make  concessions, 
can  see  the  other  side,  contribute  ever  so  little  to 
better  mutual  understanding  and  harmonization  of 
aims  and  efforts,  are  helping  to  save  the  world  from 
the  great  relapse  that  now  threatens  it.  Either  we 
must  put  an  end  to  labor  unrest  or  Bolshevism  will 
fan  it  into  a  world  conflagration.  A  labor  party  once 
in  control  would  inevitably  sovietize  any  country. 
But  how  low  and  proletarian  a  level  the  reconstruc- 
tion will  start  from  must  differ  greatly,  and  would 
depend  chiefly  upon  the  degree  of  solidarity  effected 
between  employer  and  employees.  Thus  only  a  new 
high  morale  can  save  us  from  a  radical  industrial 
revolution.  On  this  the  course  of  the  world's  future 
history  now  chiefly  depends. 

Now  (early  in  1920)  the  world  problem  is  which 
will  reach  industrial  good-will  in  the  sense  of  J.  R. 
Commons  first,  Bolshevism  or  the  older  political  capi- 
talistic states,  led  now  by  this  country.  Both  rivals 
have  certain  advantages  easy  to  tab  off.  Labor  is  in 
the  saddle  with  Bolshevism.  The  latter  now  has  the 
strongest  army  in  the  world  and  probably  also  the 
best-disciplined,  for  since  the  Kerensky  debacle  and 
the  military  chaos  that  followed  it,  Trotzky  has 
brought  a  wonderful  and  almost  regenerating  new 
morale  into  the  army.  The  great  majority  of  these 

339 


MORALE 

soldiers  want  peace  and  will  readily  return  to  its  con- 
ditions with  every  prospect  that  the  same  spirit  of  al- 
most military  discipline  will  be  developed  in  indus- 
try, war  being  only  an  emergency  measure  to  be  laid 
aside  as  soon  as  it  has  accomplished  its  purpose,  ex- 
actly as  the  "terror"  was.  The  proletariat,  however, 
la«ks  brain  power  in  just  those  great  industrial  and 
social  transformations  now  in  process  which  need 
brains  more  than  they  have  ever  been  needed  in  the 
world  before.  But  the  Bolshevik  leaders  appreciate 
and  are  now  making  desperate  efforts  to  supply  this 
need,  partly  by  the  high  salaries  they  are  paying  to  ex- 
perts, also  by  their  reorganization  of  schools  and  their 
efforts  to  make  education  compulsory  up  to  sixteen,  by 
the  establishment,  at  least  on  paper,  of  seventeen  uni- 
versities in  place  of  the  former  seven,  while  many  in- 
tellectuals and  also  not  a  few  of  the  former  rich  and 
noble  classes  are  turning  to  its  service.  Profoundly 
as  they  antagonize  Capital,  they  not  only  have  appro- 
priated enormous  amounts  of  it  in  Russia  but  are 
seeking  almost  frantically  to  lure  foreign  capital  by 
special  inducements  and  security  to  come  to  their 
aid  in  developing  their  matchless  resources,  although 
at  the  same  time  debasing  the  currency  of  the  country 
almost  beyond  precedent  by  flooding  it  with  ever 
cheaper  paper  which  there  is  no  intention,  still  less 
any  possibility  of  redeeming.  The  soviet  government 
has  specifically  renounced  propaganda  and  left  that  to 
the  Third  International,  which  its  leader,  Zinoviev, 
declares  to  be  its  chief  aim.  The  most  active  members 

340 


MORALE  AND  "THE  REDS" 

of  the  Third  International  are  missionaries  .with  an 
enthusiasm  that  suggests  the  early  Jesuits.  It  is 
they  that  burn  to  preach  the  gospel  of  communism  in 
all  lands.  Nowhere  so  much  as  in  Russia  at  the  pres- 
ent is  the  need  for  capital  and  credit  so  great,  but  it 
must  everywhere  be  entirely  subordinated  to  labor, 
and  we  are  told  that  under  such  a  system  strikes  will 
be  forever  impossible.  The  old  Russian  aristocracy  is 
in  many  places  making  the  best  terms  it  can  with  the 
soviet  government,  and  both  are  very  often  victims 
of  profiteers,  while  death,  disease,  and  lowered  vi- 
tality from  insufficient  food  and  shelter  are  so  deci- 
mating the  country  that  Lenin  says  communism  must 
kill  the  microbe  or  it  will  conquer  communism.  Bol- 
shevism has  an  enormous  task  before  it  can  establish 
order  and  restore  the  wonderfully  delicate  balances 
of  the  agencies  of  demand  and  supply,  which,  as  J. 
M.  Keynes  has  shown,  were  never  so  intricate  be- 
tween every  country  in  Europe  as  before  the  war. 

Our  own  task,  on  the  other  hand,  just  now  seems 
harder  yet,  for  here  neither  capital  nor  labor  can  sub- 
ject the  other  and  we  must  harmonize  the  two,  arbi- 
trate, and  find  some  method  of  obliterating  the  long 
and  bitter  traditions  of  conflict.  If  soulless  capital 
and  monopoly  were  supreme  and  labor  reduced  to 
serfdom,  we  should  have  the  counterpart  of  Bolshe- 
vism and  the  problem  would  be  simplified.  But  this 
is  impossible  and  intolerable. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MORALE    AND    RELIGION 

Peculiar  dangers  of  lapse  to  lower  levels  in  religion — Sympathy  be- 
tween Catholicism  and  Teutonism — In  how  far  the  former  is  un- 
democratic— The  need  and  opportunity  for  a  new  dispensation  in 
religion,  with  hints  as  to  its  probable  nature. 

The  best  and  highest  things  are  by  their  very  nature 
hardest  to  keep  at  the  top  of  their  condition  and  are 
peculiarly  prone  to  lapse  to  a  low  level.  Of  nothing 
is  this  quite  so  true  as  it  is  of  religion,  which  without 
constant  revival  dies  into  the  rigidity  of  dogma  and 
formalism.  Religion  is  still  suspicious  of  science  et 
dona  ferentes,  which  it  once  persecuted.  It  is  espe- 
cially jealous  of  evolution,  as  if  God  were  a  hypocrite 
saying  one  thing  in  His  inspired  word  which  is  irrec- 
oncilable with  the  revelation  He  made  of  Himself  in 
the  older  Bible  of  nature.  For  the  so-called  higher 
criticism  which  shows  that  Scripture  was  itself  a  nat- 
ural and  inevitable  product  of  man's  cultural  develop- 
ment the  very  large  conservative  wing  of  the  Church 
has  little  but  objurgations.  The  most  liberal  of  all 
the  Christian  denominations  still  harks  back  to  Chan- 
ning,  Emerson,  and  perhaps  Parker,  and  in  place  of 
the  earlier  radical  Protestantism  which  character- 
ized it,  tends  to  a  mild  aestheticism,  and  is  declining 
because  it  is  uneugenic  and  does  not  make  good  by 
adding  proselytes  to  make  up  for  its  losses  from  race 

342 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

suicide.  With  the  casting  off  of  old  forms  it  lost  the 
saving  sense  of  reality,  and  lives  with  a  touch  of  Nar- 
cissism in  a  beautiful  dream-world  it  has  made  for  it- 
self. It  disapproves  revivals,  and  its  seminaries  have 
not  led  as  they  ought  to  have  done  in  the  advance- 
ment of  liberal  Christian  scholarship.  It  clings  tena- 
ciously to  the  dogma  of  a  personal  objective  God  and 
individual  immortality,  hopes  for  Heaven  but  has  al- 
lowed the  doctrine  of  Hell,  its  vital  counterpart,  to 
lapse  to  innocuous  desuetude,  while  even  in  the  liber- 
ality it  has  so  long  plumed  itself  upon  it  is  very  often 
surpassed  by  individual  leaders  in  other  denomina- 
tions commonly  thought  more  conservative.  In  the 
genteel  and  charming  invalidism  of  this  originally 
most  virile  and  promising  movement  Protestantism 
is  without  any  kind  of  organized  advance  guard  but 
is  led  onward  toward  freedom  by  noble  volunteers 
and  stragglers. 

The  most  conservative  or  Catholic  wing  of  Chris- 
tianity is  still  patristic  in  its  theology  and  looks  to 
St.  Thomas  for  its  philosophy.  Always  more  Petrine 
than  Pauline  in  its  spirit,  it  is  masterly  in  organiza- 
tion, and  as  an  institution  has  never,  to  say  the  least, 
been  distinguished  by  love  of  science,  and  is  espe- 
cially hostile  toward  everything  that  savors  of  evolu- 
tion, which  it  regards  as  the  one  great  modern  heresy. 
It  excommunicated  Spinoza  once  and  later  Loisy,  and 
condemns  all  who  place  truth  above  dogma.  Its  mar- 
velous genius  for  organization  is  offset  by  its  lack  of 
bold  inventors  and  discoverers  of  new  truth  and  origi- 
nal, pioneer  investigators,  although  there  are  some 

343 


MOKALE 

most  striking  exceptions  to  this  general  rule.  Its  su- 
preme pontiff  condemned  modernism,  proclaimed  the 
infallibility  of  his  office,  and  announced  that  the 
Holy  Mother  was  miraculously  conceived.  It  has  al- 
ways felt  itself  the  spiritual  heir  to  the  Roman  em- 
pire, and  has  wrought  into  its  institutions  and  cults 
many  of  the  best  things  from  all  the  culture  of  an- 
tiquity, as  well  as  of  the  early  medieval  and  Christian 
centuries ;  and  these  it  has  made  into  one  of  the  most 
marvelous  social,  moral,  cultural,  and  even  political 
structures  that  the  world  has  seen,  to  which  its  lead- 
ers are  sincerely  proud  and  happy  to  subordinate 
themselves.  It  has  thus  made  itself  a  solidarity  and 
a  power  that  has  to  be  reckoned,  with  in  every  great 
question  in  every  country  of  the  wrestern  world.  It 
has  produced  saints  who  were  paragons  of  virtue  and 
self-effacement,  that  seem  almost  exotic  and  too  beau- 
tiful to  belong  to  this  selfish  world;  while  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  celibates  have  lavished  on  it  the  love 
that  was  meant  for  husband,  wife,  and  children. 

It  is  more  fecund  than  Protestantism  and  is  grow- 
ing faster,  but  its  faith  and  cult  are  transcendental. 
It  is  so  intent  that  no  good  thing  from  the  past  be  lost 
that  it  is  often  blind  to  the  present  and  future  good. 
It  puts  theology  above  philosophy,  and  both  above  sci- 
ence. Its  universe  is  theocentric,  not  anthropocen- 
tric.  For  it  the  next  life  conditions  this,  and  it  would 
fain  place  the  Church  above  the  State.  Its  political 
and  patriotic  loyalty  is  generous,  sincere,  and  de- 
voted, as  was  abundantly  demonstrated  beyond  criti- 

344 


MOKALE  AND  RELIGION 

cism  by  the  late  war.  But  it  believes  in  a  higher  al- 
legiance and  looks  with  almost  horror  upon  all  theo- 
ries of  the  absolutism  of  the  State  (e.  g.,  in  the  sense 
of  Hegel)  or  upon  any  which  substitute  the  State  for 
the  Church,  and  of  course  was  still  more  shocked  by 
Rothe's  plea  that  the  Church  should  now  be  abolished 
and  the  State  take  its  place.  In  fact,  the  German 
idea  of  supreme  authority  in  the  state  is  a  transfer 
from  Catholicism.  But  the  Church,  as  Zeller  long 
ago  proved,  got  it  from  Plato's  Republic  and  Aris- 
totle's Politics.  The  point  that  we  would  stress  here 
is  that  the  whole  idea  of  a  super-  or  metaphysical  state 
is  aristocratic,  as  is  Catholicism.  Both  are  products 
of  generations  of  hard,  conscious  theorizing,  and  thus 
both  are  also  and.  alike  opposed  to  the  prime  postu- 
late of  democracy,  viz.,  that  state  and  theocracy 
alike  were  evolved  unconsciously  from  and  by  the 
folksoul,  by  the  tribal  spirit,  and  in  ways  which  Durk- 
heim1  has  best  shown. 

Thus  every  rigid  hierarchy  is  essentially  un-  or 
anti-democratic,  and  despite  all  the  rivalry  there  will 
always  remain  a  deep  analogy  and  a  strong  sense  of 
kinship  between  the  Teutonic  worship  of  the  State 
and  the  Latin  propensity  to  submit  their  personal 
lives  to  ecclesiastical  control.  Both  theocracies,  that 
of  Berlin  and  of  Rome,  are  anti-democratic. 

Like   Teutonism,   too,    Catholicism    has   its    own 


1  See,  too,  L.  T.  Hobhouse :  The  Metaphysical  Theory  of  the  State, 
N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1918:  W.  Willoughby:  Prussian  Political  Philoso- 
phy, N.  Y.,  Appleton,  1918 ;  and  H.  J.  Laski :  Authority  in  the  Mod- 
ern State,  New  Haven,  Yale  U.  Press,  1919. 

345 


MORALE 

highly  evolved  morale;  but  both  are  artifacts,  prod- 
ucts of  a  unique  Kultur,  and  thus  very  different  from 
those  institutions  which  we  know  are  the  spontaneous 
evolution  of  the  mind  of  the  demos.  As  the  Church 
holds  the  keys  of  Heaven  and  claims  to  be  the  only 
way  through  which  God  can  be  approached,  so  the  ab- 
solute state  bars  the  people  from  the  control  of  gov- 
ernment, which  is  administered  for  not  by  them,  and 
the  real  folksoul  now  no  longer  speaks  through  either. 
One  condemned  Darwinism  in  exactly  the  same  spirit 
as  the  other  condemned  Nicolai.  It  would  be  difficult 
to-day  to  say  which  of  these  two  is  more  intolerant  of 
heresies,  although  certainly  it  is  only  the  State  now 
that  persecutes. 

Between  the  extremes  of  Romanism  and  Unitarian- 
ism  we  have,  according  to  a  recent  estimate,  sixty- 
three  sects  and  denominations  in  this  country  rang- 
ing from  the  largest,  most  enlightened,  and  beneficent 
down  to  the  smallest,  poorest,  meanest,  most  super- 
stitious, and  fanatical.  No  human  institution  is  so 
conservative  of  things  outgrown  as  is  religion,  and 
nothing  has  done  so  much  harm  and  also  so  much 
good  in  the  world.  Nothing  can  vitalize  so  many  ab- 
surdities in  both  thought  and  conduct.  Because  its 
vital  index  is  so  high  that  it  can  vitalize  anything,  it 
needs  incessant  reformation  and  molting  of  old 
forms,  and  without  this  its  morale  can  sink  to  a  very 
low  and  formal  level.  It  is  liable  to  almost  every 
form  of  psychic  disease — lethargy,  a  rigidity  that  is 
almost  cataleptic,  stereotypy,  depression  and  exalta- 

346 


MOEALE  AND  RELIGION 

tion,  fixed  ideas,  arrest,  with  every  characteristic 
symptom  of  dementia  praecox,  and  is  prone  to  illu- 
sions, delusions,  hallucinations,  etc.2  Its  proclivity 
to  superstition  and  even  ghost  cults  is  just  now  since 
the  war  so  much  in  evidence  that  in  England  the 
very  church  leaders  have  felt  called  on  to  protest. 
The  issue  we  now  face  is  whether  the  enhancement  of 
religiosity  that  all  wars,  and  most  of  all  this  by; 
bringing  death  so  near,  have  generated  in  all  minds, 
secular  and  ecclesiastic,  shall  find  expression  in  the 
widespread  revival  of  effete  superstitions,  or  whether 
we  can  find  and  make  the  war  a  point  of  departure 
for  nothing  less  than  the  new,  long-expected,  and 
long-delayed  third  dispensation  of  Christianity  some- 
what in  the  sense  long  ago  described  by  Renan,  which 
would  put  an  end  once  and  for  all  to  the  age-long 
conflict  between  science  and  religion,  so  well  described 
in  A.  D.  White's  monumental  Avork  on  this  subject  as 
the  world's  greatest  tragedy  and  waste  of  energy. 
This  is  perhaps  the  chief  of  all  the  culture  problems 
bequeathed  to  us  by  the  war. 

As  the  culminating  task  of  the  world  in  all  Chris- 
tendom I  would  conclude  this  volume  by  attempting 
to  sketch  in  rough  outlines  what  this  new  dispensa- 
tion now  struggling  to  be  born  essentially  is,  or  at 
least  seems  to  be,  to  one  psychologist.  It  is  in  general 
anticipatory  words,  the  substitution  everywhere  of 
immanence  for  transcendence;  it  is  a  restatement  of 
the  essential  old  dogmas  in  terms  of  the  human  needs 

'Josiah  Morse:  Pathological  Aspects  of  Religions,  264.  Worcester, 
Clark  U.  Press,  1906. 

347 


MOKALE 

from  which  they  sprang,  or  an  attempt  to  state  and 
meet  these  needs  by  more  adequate,  modern  modes  of 
thought  and  life.  It  sees  a  great  rapprochement  be- 
tween reason  and  faith.  It  will  show  that  what  lay 
concealed  in  the  latter  is  now  beginning  to  stand  re- 
vealed to  and  by  the  former. 

1.  Every  religion,  from  the  most  savage  to  the 
highest,  postulates  the  need  of  some  kind  of  rebirth, 
and  science  finds  this  need  performed  in  the  changes 
involved  in  puberty  and  adolescence.  Before  these 
years  each  individual  normally  lives  for  himself.  The 
young  must  be  clothed,  fed,  educated,  protected,  but 
with  the  dawn  of  sex  maturity  comes  a  new  instinct 
to  serve,  merge  with  the  tribe  or  community,3  and 
subordination  of  the  individual  to  the  herd.  The  new 
altruism,  if  not  completed  here,  leaves  man  an  unfin- 
ished or  an  arrested  being.  Every  savage  tribe  has 
its  ceremonies  of  initiation,  and  every  religion  believes 
in  some  kind  of  conversion  or  confirmation  symbolic 
of  Nature's  regeneration  at  this  age.  Thus  religion 
has  institutionalized  and  formulated  in  its  creeds 
and  ceremonies  this  great  change,  and  we  know  now 
enough  about  the  latter  -to  see  that  it  is  precisely  its 
needs  that  all  these  religious  forms  seek  to  meet. 
Each  to  be  a  good  member  of  society  must  be  un- 
selfed  and  subordinated  to  it,  and  in  this  sense  the 
scriptural  admonition  that  "unless  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God"  is  true 
to  anthropology. 

*See  my  Adolescence,  11,  chap.  13,  N.  T.,  Appleton,  1904,  which 
is  devoted  to  this  subject. 

348 


2.  The  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
another  attempt  to  formulate  a  large  group  of  phe- 
nomena which  both  psychology   and   psychiatry  are 
now  coming  to  understand  as  an  essential  need  of 
men.     The  so-called  adrenalin  type  of  man  perhaps 
best  illustrates  this.    Most  of  the  great  work  of  the 
world  has  been  done  by  man's  higher  powers  or  by 
those  under  the  influence  of  some  kind  of  afflatus  or 
second-breath;  arid,  what  is  far  more  important,  we 
are  coming  to  realize  that  these  experiences,  which 
may  be  truly  called  inspirational,  are  a  very  funda- 
mental need,  especially  in  the  plastic,  erethic  stage  of 
our  physiological  life.  Genius  in  all  its  great  produc- 
tions has  felt  itself  caught  up,  carried  on  by  a  power 
not  itself  which  has  been  variously  interpreted  as  a 
Muse  or  as  a  goru,  and  in  the  Scriptural  record  of  the 
phenomena  of  Pentecost  we  have  a  very  graphic  and 
objective  story  of  the  way  in  which  all  great  causes 
take  hold  of  great  souls  and  impel  them  with  a  mo- 
mentum that  has  behind  it  the  whole  nisus  of  evolu- 
tion to  attack  the  greatest  of  all  problems. 

3.  The  New  Testament  is  a  love  story,  and  its 
moral  is  that  man  is  perfect  when  the  greatest  and 
best  thing  in  him,  love,  is  fixed  upon  the  supremest 
object,  viz.,  God.    Dante  idealized  it,  and  the  Freud- 
ians are  showing  that  it  is  the  most  plastic  thing  in 
Mansoul  and  the  most  all-determining  for  his  career. 
Almost  anything  or  any  act  may  become  an  erotic 
fetish,  and  the  calentures  of  love  are  seen  not  merely 
in  the  best  amorous  literature  but  in  the  passionate 

349 


MORALE 

impulsion  of  mystics  to  be  completely  absorbed  in 
the  Divine  nature.  Very  much  of  that  which  makes 
or  mars  life  is  due  to  whether  man's  affections  grovel 
or  climb,  and  no  psychologist  can  fail  to  see  that  love 
of  God  and  the  libido  have  the  same  mechanisms,  and 
that  religious  and  sex  normality  and  abnormality  are 
very  closely  connected.  "Love  rules  the  camp,  the 
court,  the  grove ;  for  love  is  God  and  God  is  love." 

4.  The  doctrine  of  sin   or  harmatology   plays   a 
great  role  in  all  theologies.  Men,  like  races,  are  deca- 
dent or  ascendant.      The    story   of   degeneration  as 
presented  by  Nordau  is  a  modern  amplification  of  the 
patristic  idea  of  sin.    The  best  survive;    the  worst 
perish.    This  moral  dualism  is  found  in  the  biological 
history  of  all  species,  so  that  near  the  beginnings  of 
life  there  is  a  kind  of  dualism  and  it  is  only  the  law 
of  selection  that  sinners  die.    The  evolutionary  nisus 
is  impelling  the  whole  human  race  onward  and  up- 
ward, and  while  the  true  ideal  superman  is  a  very 
different  thing  from    the    medieval  saint,  both  doc- 
trines imply  the  indefinite  perfectibility  of  men,  of 
whose  struggles  the  old  doctrines  of  sin  and  tempta- 
tion are  the  most  ostensive  of  old  historic  illustra- 
trations.     Instances  are  found  in  all  the  dis'harmo- 
nies  within  the  body  which  Metchnikoff  describes, 
and  in  all  the  conflicts  and  repressions  and  impul- 
sions that  psychanalysis  tells  us  of. 

5.  Prayer  is  described  in  the  old  hymn  as  the  soul's 
sincere  desire  "uttered  or  unexpressed."     In  other 
words,  it  is  a  wish,  the  potency  of  which  in  the  field 

350 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

of  science  it  was  left  for  the  Freudians  to  set  forth. 
Every  man  strives  upward  and  onward.  He  has  not 
only  the  will-to-live  but  wants  to  make  the  most  and 
best  of  himself;  and.  to  formulate  our  strongest  de- 
sires definitely  aids  to  their  realization,  just  as  the 
fervent,  effectual  prayer  of  the  righteous  is  said  to 
avail  much.  The  wish,  if  it  is  strong  enough,  can  do 
great  things,  extravagantly  symbolized  in  the  phrase 
"move  mountains."  The  modes  of  constraining  the 
gods  to  help  us  are  really  only  modes  of  enlisting  the 
active  cooperation  of  our  own  deep  unconscious  na- 
ture, which  is  the  most  effective  agent  in  bringing  the 
fulfillment  of  our  right  wishes,  for  the  yearning  to 
fulfill  bad  wishes  is  prayer  to  the  devil. 

6.  Confession  has  been  a  great  institution  in  the 
church,  and  we  are  told,  that  to  confess  is  to  forsake. 
But  it  has  also  lately  become,  with  a  slight  change  of 
terms,  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  psychothera- 
peutic  agencies.  The  analyst  is  now  the  father  con- 
fessor, and  he  knows  as  well  as  the  priest  does  that 
to  bring  up  clearly  to  consciousness,  and  especially  to 
oral  expression,  a  complex,  an  error,  or  a  lapse  is  the 
first  step  toward  cure.  In  fact,  consciousness  itself 
is  extradition  or  objectivization,  and  hence  comes  its 
cathartic  quality.  Religion  sees  a  very  vital  part,  but 
as  yet  only  a  part  of  this  great  truth.  Consciousness 
is  attracted  to  anything  within  us  that  goes  wrong 
and  focuses  where  there  is  uncertainty  or  hesita- 
tion, and  all  of  its  protective  function  is  simply 
remedial.  Perhaps  if  we  could  be  wound  up  like  a 

351 


MORALE 

clock  always  to  do  right  without  choice  or  hesitation, 
as  Huxley  wanted  to  be,  sin  and  error  would  vanish, 
and  we  might  attain  a  life  as  perfectly  fitted  to  our 
nature  and  needs  as  that,  e.  g.,  of  instinct  in  the  in- 
sect world,  where  extremely  complex  life  histories 
and  social  organizations  seem  to  have  been  developed 
with  perfect  automatism,  because  these  creatures  we 
call  lowly  -nave  been  in  the  world  so  vastly  longer 
than  man  that  their  adjustment  to  the  conditions  of 
life  is  more  perfect. 

7.  Heaven  and  hell  have  served  their  chief  func- 
tion in  the  world  by  keeping  alive  perhaps  the  very 
most  fundamental  of  all  moral  instincts,  viz.,  justice. 
Nothing  so  goads  the  soul  of  the  individual,  of  work- 
ing classes,  communities,  or  states,  to  desperation  as 
a  condition  in  which  the  bad  win  and  the  good  lose  the 
great  joys  of  life.  There  is  no  deeper  moral  instinct 
than  that  which  affirms  that  merit  should  meet  its  re- 
ward, and  demerit  its  punishment.  Man  long  tried  to 
construe  human  experience  so  optimistically  that  a 
case  for  justice  could  be  made  out  without  transcend- 
ing his  present  life,  as  we  see,  e.  g.,  in  Job.  But  the 
tyrant,  the  extortioner,  the  enslaver  made  this  view 
entirely  impossible,  so  that  man  would  have  been 
driven  to  desperation  if  he  had  not  found  effective 
recourse  in  belief  in  another  life  in  Which  the  in- 
equalities of  this  life  would  be  compensated  for.  This 
is  the  psychological  genesis  of  all  forms  of  belief  in 
future  rewards  and  punishments,  and  indeed  it  was 
a  great  step  in  the  world  when  the  long-cherished  be- 

352 


MOKALE  AND  KELIGION 

lief  in  ghosts  was  thus  enlisted  in  the  service  of  vir- 
tue. On  this  view,  if  all  the  good  people  in  the  world 
had  always  been  happy  in  proportion  to  their  good- 
ness, and  all  the  bad  wretched  in  proportion  to  their 
evil,  there  could  have  been  no  belief  in  transcendental 
moral  compensations. 

8.  Hence  doctrines  of  immortality  in  its  several 
forms.  Here  we  have  first  the  vulgar  one  of  the  medi- 
cine-man, the  spiritists,  and  some  of  the  psychic  re- 
searchers, viz.,  belief  in  a  subtle,  material,  ghost-like 
form  that  survives.  This  is  the  oldest  and  most  crass, 
and  the  church  has  happily  long  trancended  this  in 
its  more  refined  contemporary  convictions.  Again,  in- 
fluential immortality  teaches  that  the  effects  of  what 
men  do  live  after  them.  The  founders  of  institutions, 
great  discoverers  and  reformers,  soldiers  who  die  to 
save  liberty  or  country,  and  not  only  those  who  were 
anxious  to  survive  in  the  memory  of  their  friends  or 
even  the  race  but  who  are  ready  to  give  their  lives  for 
great  causes  in  the  service  of  which  they  know  they 
will  always  be  anonymous,  are  likewise  animated  by 
a  desire  for  mundane  immortality.  Third  comes  the 
plasmal  immortality  of  Weismann  and  eugenics, 
which  Galton  thought  is  to  be  the  religion  of  the  fu- 
ture. Sooner  or  later  all  of  us  who  live  to  full  ma- 
turity desire  to  pass  on  the  torch  of  life  to  posterity, 
and  shrink  from  the  extinction  of  our  line,  which 
goes  back  to  the  amoeba.  Childlessness  has  a  tragic 
pathos  all  its  own,  and  one  of  the  great  motives  of 
life  is  to  provide  for  the  successors  in  our  stirp.  The 

353 


MORALE 

motives  to  virtue  for  the  sake  of  offspring,  so  actively 
discussed,  just  now,  have  great  possibilities  of  de- 
velopment. True  family  pride  always  tends  toward 
purity,  and  especially  the  scientific  man  now  realizes 
that  the  supreme  function  of  the  soma  is  to  contrib- 
ute something,  infinitesimal  though  it  may  be,  to  the 
greatest  of  all  wealths,  viz.,  heredity,  or  to  the  immor- 
tal germ  plasm.  Now,  these  three  are  the  primal  im- 
mortalities, and  the  belief  in  continued  personal  con- 
scious existence  after  death  is  only  a  byproduct,  or 
vicariate,  or  surrogate,  or  symbol  of  them;  and  we 
find  it  entirely  consonant  with  the  laws  of  psychan- 
alysis  that  when  these  latter  two  forms  are  ade- 
quately developed,  the  selfish  lust  of  the  individual  to 
live  again  after  death  and  get  all  possible  happiness 
for  himself  abates.  Thus  the  theological  formula  of 
immortality  has  been  the  locum  tenens,  and  one 
source  of  the  rare  tenacity  with  which  it  has  been 
held  is  because  it  is  so  surcharged  with  all  the  sym- 
bolisms of  these  less  egoistic  forms  of  belief  in  the 
continuity  of  souls.  If  in  addition  the  above  motive 
of  compensation  for  injustice  were  taken  away,  the 
lust  for  a  future  life  would  be  a  product  of  luxury 
and  self-indulgence,  and  man  would  be  ready  and  even 
glad  to  face  in  the  end  the  conception  of  absorption 
into  the  great  One  and  All  as  his  supreme  apocatas- 
tasis. 

9.  Belief  in  God  is  one  of  the  most  precious  and 
inalienable  articles  of  every  creed  but  the  time  has 
now  come  when  we  must  realize  frankly  that  this  su- 

354 


preme  thesis  must  be  subjectified.  The  Russian  dra- 
matist, Andreev,  describes  the  objective  God  as  a 
dwindling  figure  standing  in  the  corner,  holding  a 
light  that  is  burning  out,  and  looking  on  the  tragic 
history  of  man,  even  this  war,  with  no  emotion  and 
with  no  attempt  to  influence  human  affairs.  His 
theme  really  is  not  the  twilight  but  the  death  of  deity, 
and  he  seeks  to  represent  thus  the  pallid,  tenuous, 
and  moribund  faith  in  a  deity  who  shapes  things  from 
without.  Now  the  histories  of  religion  show  that 
nearly  everything  in  nature  has  been  somewhere, 
sometime,  an  object  of  worship — rocks,  hills,  heavenly 
bodies,  clouds,  the  sky  and  sea,  trees,  totemic  animals, 
and  last  came  the  anthropomorphic  deities.  There  are 
really  two  gods,  one  that  presides  over  nature,  the 
great  compelling  One  and  All  partly  typified  by  the 
tinmen  trcmendum  of  Sinai,  and  the  other  a  more 
kindly  being  who  represents  and  cares  chiefly  for 
man  as  the  crown  of  creation.  Science  worships 
the  god  of  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature,  while 
the  Christian  god  symbolized  by  the  historic  fig- 
ure of  Jesus,  represents  Mansoul  in  its  acutest 
struggles  and  its  highest  aspirations.  The  the- 
ology of  this  god  is,  as  Feuerbach  long  ago  showed, 
simply  anthropology,  and  what  the  Christian  really; 
worships  is  the  good  upward  tendencies  in  the  human 
soul  in  all  its  wonderful  achievements,  conscious  and 
perhaps  in  some  sense  especially  unconcious.  This 
is  the  deity  that  created  all  human  institutions  — 
language,  society,  science,  and  religion  itself.  All 

355 


MORALE 

these  sprang  out  of  the  great  heart  of  humanity,  and 
the  time  has  now  come  when  we  must  understand 
that  the  worship  of  every  kind  of  objective  deity  is  at 
best  a  refined  form  of  idolatry.  The  true  and  living 
God  is  the  developmental  urge — "Some  call  it  evolu- 
tion, and  others  call  it  God."  His  activities  of  course 
culminate  in  the  soul  of  man,  the  sublimest  product 
of  which  is  the  conception  of  a  perfect  God.  As  the 
primordial  urge  He  created  man,  and  endowed  him 
with  a  soul  which  enabled  him  to  evolve  the  concept 
of  a  sublime  creator  and  upholder  of  the  universe. 
Feuerbach  was  only  partially  right  when  he  would  re- 
duce theology  to  anthropology,  because  nature  no  less 
than  man  is  God's  work.  He  might  better  have  said 
that  the  theology  of  the  future  is  science  in  its  largest, 
broadest  aspect.  He  might  have  said,  too|  that  the 
field  of  individual  consciousness  is  too  narrow  to  be 
the  projection  field  of  any  adequate  conception  of  the 
source  of  nature  and  of  man.  If  we  now  dispense 
with  all  extradited  conceptions  of  deity,  and  frankly 
recognize  that  the  supreme  object  of  worship  and 
service  is  the  power  that  in  the  beginning  started  the 
course  of  evolution  and  in  the  end  became  for  human 
life  the  power  that  makes  for  righteousness,  we  shall 
at  once  not  only  experience  a  great  eclaircissement 
and  have  a  new  sense  of  the  unity  of  the  cosmos,  but 
we  shall  redeem  God  from  the  age-long  suspicion  that 
He  is  a  hypocrite  saying  one  thing  in  His  works  and 
another  in  His  word,  and  shall  realize  that  the  leaves 
in  Nature's  great  bible  laid  down  in  the  rocks  and 

356 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

the  essential  story  imperfectly  expressed  in  our  sa- 
cred Scriptures  belong  together,  and  can  neither  of 
them  be  understood  aright  without  the  other.  Man's 
religious  instincts  will  then  have  not  only  a  genuine 
renaissance  but  an  indefinite  extension  in  scope,  and 
we  shall  see  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  everything 
is  divine,  and  that  what  we  call  the  personality  of 
deity  is  simply  the  highest  expression  of  anthropo- 
morphization. 

Again,  all  the  old  conceptions  of  any  kind  of  Did- 
bolos  or  a  counter-realm  of  forces  and  persons  over 
against  the  kingdom  of  God  have  already  now  been 
pretty  well  subjectivized  thus,  and  there  are  very  few 
who  believe  in  a  personal  devil.  But  during  all  the 
ages  of  vivid  faith  in  an  objective  God  a  belief  in  His 
great  adversary  was  hardly  less  strong.  The  fact  that 
God's  counterpart  has  thus  undergone  the  very  in- 
wardization  we  postulate,  cuts  the  psychological  tap- 
root of  our  belief  in  an  outward  god  whose  existence 
was  more  or  less  bound  up  with  that  of  his  great  anti- 
thete.  Thus  in  the  fate  of  Didbolos  we  see  a  sure 
prophecy  that  the  same  fate  of  interiorization  awaits 
deity  itself.  Does  anyone  believe  that  man's  concep- 
tion of  evil  in  the  world  has  been  weakened  by  the 
lapse  of  the  belief  in  a  malign  personal  agent?  Has 
it  not  rather  given  us  a  deeper  realization  of  the  true 
nature  of  sin,  error,  degeneration,  and  all  the  agencies 
obstructive  to  real  progress;  and  may  we  not  confi- 
dently expect  that  the  same  process  of  resubjectiviza- 
tion  would  bring  not  at  all  the  atheism  that  timid 

357 


MORALE 

churchmen   fear  but  a  deeper,   stronger,  and  more 
effective  theism?* 

Something  like  the  abow  will  be  the  religious  atti- 
tude of  man's  maturity  if  he  ever  reaches  it.  Rites, 
ceremonies,  and  creeds  belong  to  the  projicient  ado- 
lescence of  the  race  which  the  "harvest  home"  of 
senescent  involution,  if  complete,  always  reverses. 
Max  Miiller  tells  us  in  substance  that  in  many  typi- 
cal homes  in  the  Punjab,  long  the  heart  of  the  classic 
culture  of  India,  one  often  sees  in  the  same  family 
the  grandchildren  reared  with  implicit  belief  in  all 
the  gods  of  the  most  fecund  of  all  mythologies,  with 
their  minds  saturated  with  all  the  folk  superstitions. 
These  the  typical  parents  have  outgrown,  revering 
only  the  great  epics  and  a  few  of  the  superior  gods 
henotheistically,  addressing  each  in  turn  as  supreme 
as  the  mood  of  the  worshiper  changes.  The  grand- 
fathers have  passed  these  and  all  intervening  stages, 
regarding  all  deities  as  shadows  which  the  soul  pro- 
jects in  its  ascending  steps,  intent  solely  on  the  pur- 
gation of  sin  and  error,  and  looking  forwkrd  with 
equanimity  and  often  longing  to  the  great  absorption 
into  the  One  and  All  which  is  the  fate  of  all  men,  gods, 
and  the  worlds  themselves.  Thus  all  stages  of  re- 
ligious evolution  are  completed  in  the  span  of  a  single 
life.  This  would  be  somewhat  paralleled  in  the  Chris- 
tian world  if  the  child  passed,  as  it  matured,  from  Ca- 
tholicism on  through  liberalism  to  pantheism;  or  in 
the  larger  field  of  comparative  religions,  if  he  passed 

4  See  my  Jesus,  the  Christ,  in  the  Light  of  Psychology,  N.  Y., 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.  1917.  2  vols. 

358 


from  the  crass  savage  fetishism  on  to  the  worship  of 
sun,  moon,  stars,  clouds,  rocks,  stones,  trees,  plants, 
animals,  and  finally  totemized  men,  as  the  race  did. 
Another  suggestive  but  more  remote  parallel  would 
be  the  postulate  of  Du  Buy5  that  each  child  might 
with  advantage  be  brought  through  first  a  Confucian 
stage,  focusing  on  social  forms  and  obligations  as  a 
kind  of  discipline  in  psychic  attitude;  then  a.  Mo- 
hammedan period  of  passionate  affirmation  of  unity 
in  the  world;  then  a  .stage  of  discipline  by  this  one 
deity;  then  at  adolescence,  the  age  of  dawning  love, 
would  come  Christianity  as  the  best  expression  of 
man's  highest  state,  this  to  be  followed  by  a  Bud- 
dhistic discipline  of  soul,  turning  from  the  world 
with  all  its  pomp  and  vanities  to  higher  and  more 
unincorporated  things;  and,  finally,  in  old  age  the 
finished  soul  would  feel  the  Brahmanic  urge  of  de- 
personalization  and  apocatastasis. 

Of  course  any  such  religious  recapitulation  is  at 
present  only  an  iridescent  dream.  All  religions  in 
their  best  and  most  intense,  which  is  also  their 
youthful  stage,  have  merit  and  good  in  them  all  their 
own,  but  the  great  synthesis  and  resultant  sympathy 
between  them  is  something  which  even  the  scholars 
and  pioneers  in  this  field  have  not  yet  reached,  so 
that  any  such  religious  curriculum  as  the  above,  if  it 
is  ever  practical,  is  a  long  way  off.  Only  the  specu- 
lative philosopher  Hartmann6  long  ago  had  the  hardi- 

5  Amer.  Jour,  of  Relig.  Psy  and  Edu.,  I,  No.  1,  7-29,  May,  1904. 

8  PMnomenologie  des  sittchen  Bewusstseins,  871,  Berlin,  Duncker. 
1879. 

359 


MORALE 

kood  to  attempt  to  characterize  such  an  evolutionary 
history  of  the  religious  consciousness,  laying  down 
its  stages  somewhat  as  paleontology  would  trace  the 
ascending  orders  of  life,  and  his  ambitious  and  pre- 
mature effort  is  full  of  errors  and  gaps,  and  ends  in 
a  pessimism  so  extreme  that  it  consigns  to  the  grave 
every  great  hope  of  the  race.  If  we  ever  have  any 
such  processional  of  the  soul,  it  will  be  a  grammar  of 
assent  and  not  of  dissent,  and  these  stages  will  follow 
the  biological  analogies  of  the  c'hambered  nautilus 
and  of  all  spiral  shells  and  not  the  rival  pattern  of 
Nature,  that  of  painful  and  successive  moults. 

Berkeley  attempted  to  inwardize  the  objective  ma- 
terial world,  and  told  us  that  the  esse  of  all  things 
external  was  really  their  percipi.  I  interpret  this7 
as  a  mistaken  transfer  to  the  wrong  field  of  the 
strong  impulse  of  man,  as  he  matures,  to  inwardize 
all  religions  and  reinterpret  them  in  terms  of  human 
nature  and  needs,  and  abjure  faith  in  outer  objec- 
tivity as  the  most  refined  form  of  idolatry.  Berkeley 
felt  this  senescent  trend,  but  his  conservative  up- 
bringing and  his  clerical  training  made  it  impossible 
for  him  to  apply  it  as  he  should  have  done  to  the 
whole  dominion  of  faith.  It  was  strong  enough  in 
him,  however,  to  drive  him  to  the  more  desperate 
venture  of  subjectifying  the  material  world  instead. 
It  is  in  this  sense  that  psychanalysis  sees  in  his  phil- 
osophy its  classic  paradigm  of  normal,  maturing,  and 

T  The  Genetic  View  of  Berkeley's  Religious  Motivation,  V.  137- 
162,  J.  Rel.  Psy.,  April,  1912. 

360 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

senescent  involution,  the  best  symbol  perhaps  in  the 
history  of  modern  Western  thought  of  the  true  invo- 
lution which  is  the  chief  trait  of  psychic  maturity  in 
religion. 

Meanwhile,  and  finally,  let  us  not  forget  that  the 
world  will  never  be  saved  by  creeds,  forms  of  wor- 
ship, or  even  by  belief,  but  that  even  they  are  valu- 
able or  vicious  solely  as  they  improve  or  impair  char- 
acter. The  final  test  of  not  only  all  of  them  but  of 
all  institutions  of  education  and  religion  alike,  as 
well  as  experience  itself,  is  what  they  do  for  will, 
feeling,  emotion,  sentiment,  or  in  a  word  for  disposi- 
tion, and  how  much  they  help  in  the  following  points : 

(a)  Does  man  find  his  pleasures  in  things  he  ought 
to?    Can  he  face  the  world  with  joy  and  confidence 
and  get  real  happiness  out  of  the  fundamental  things 
of  life;  or  is  he  depressed,  discouraged,  and  prone  to 
lose  hope?     How  the  world  loves  the  buoyant  tem- 
perament, the  cheerful  optimist,  the  man  who  is  al- 
ways near  the  top  of  his  condition,  who  can  see  the 
good  side  of  others,  of  life,  and  things  in  general! 
Whether  in  the  trenches  or  in  home  life  his  fellow- 
men  turn  to  him  and  dub  him  "good  fellow,"  the  de- 
gree summa  cum  laude  which  the  folk  confers  upon 
its    favorites.     Some    call    it    super-health    or    life 
abounding.     It  is  simply  high  morale  in  this  field. 
Are  we  educating  the  rising  generation  to  find  more 
or  less  pleasure  in  the  things  they  ought  to? 

(b)  Another  ingredient  of  character  and  tempera- 
ment is  altruism  shading  up  into  love.    If  our  schools 

361 


MOKALE 

and  creeds  make  men  selfish  instead  of  self-sacrific- 
ing, profiteers  instead  of  benefactors,  always  on  the 
make  and  getting  instead  of  giving,  they  are  not 
evolving  the  herd  instinct  on  which  all  social  insti 
tutions  rest,  but  are  undermining  it.  We  must  build 
inner  and  see  that  they  take  the  place  of  outer  re- 
straints to  both  greed  and  lust.  No  life  is  complete 
that  is  not  devoted  to  something  above  and  beyond 
the  individual,  and  he  is  not  mature  who  has  not 
found  things  he  would  die  for  as  well  as  live  for  if 
the  occasion  arose.  Do  our  cults  and  our  culture 
help  youth  to  control  passion,  or  do  they  find  in  the 
very  training  we  give  them  subtle  excuses  for  self- 
indulgence?  Do  love  of  country,  of  the  welfare  of 
the  community  in  which  they  live,  of  mankind,  have 
their  true  place  in  their  hearts?  Do  they  learn  of 
the  joys  of  service?  These  are  perhaps  the  supreme 
tests  of  the  real  value  that  home,  school,  state,  or 
church  can  give  or  do  for  them. 

(c)  Again,  man  must  fear  aright.  We  have  seen 
how  potent  was  this  basal  anticipation  of  pain  in 
the  soldier,  and  it  is  no  less  a  force  though  in  a  very 
different  way  in  the  life  of  the  citizen.  I  have  com- 
piled from  medical  literature  a  table  of  276  phobias 
or  morbid  fears  showing  man's  manifold  proclivities 
to  timidity.8  Most  men  have  fears  of  poverty,  many  of 
dire  need  and  perhaps  even  of  hunger.  How  can  this 
dread  be  made  to  be  a  spur  to  prudence  and  industry? 


8 .4.  Synthetic  Genetic  Study  of  Fear,  Am.  J.  Psy.,  25:  149  and  321 
(1914). 

362 


MORALE  AND  EELIGION 

All  fear  the  loss  of  love  or  of  respect,  they  have  a 
horror  of  inferiority,  and  the  psychanalyst  seeks  in 
his  every  patient  for  the  root  of  every  psychic  disturb- 
ance in  some  conscious  or  unconscious  fear.  All 
young  people  need  security  and  help  here,  for  many 
if  not  most  suffer  dangerously,  e.  g.}  from  sex  fears, 
and  if  taken  in  time  can  easily  be  relieved.  Do  we 
teach  the  rising  generation  to  fear  aright,  that  is,  to 
fear  most  evils  that  are  greatest,  such  as  unhygienic 
habits,  dishonesty,  and  everything  degenerative,  and 
have  we  forgotten  that  true  courage  is  the  consum- 
mate flower  of  morale? 

(d)  Anger  and  hate  are  another  fundamental  trait. 
Many  lives  are  marred  by  petty  irritability  at  trifles, 
and  anger,  as  well  as  pity  and  rage,  has  its  fetishes 
that  are  often  absurd.  The  indignation  of  a  great, 
wise,  and  just  man  is  often  sublime,  like  that  of  Yah- 
veh  himself.  It  can  sweep  away  great  and  inveterate 
abuses  and  make  moral  revolutions.  There  are  al- 
ways wrongs  and  evildoers  in  every  community  that 
are  worthy  of  it,  and  it  is  a  craven  shopman's  motto 
to  make  no  enemies.  We  should  rather  choose  them 
wisely,  and  every  man  should  fight  some  wrong  with 
all  that  is  in  him,  for  peace  has  its  wars  and  its  vic- 
tories. A  fit  of  righteous  resentment  is  often  thera- 
peutic, and  indeed  may  be  almost  regenerative.  Are 
we  angry  and  do  we  hate  aright? 

The  same  might  be  said  of  pity  and  sympathy  so 
often  perverted,  and  the  proper  development  of  which 
is  so  basal  for  character  and  conduct.  The  death  of 

363 


MORALE 

Christ  is  the  world's  masterpiece  of  pathos.  The 
same  is  true  also  of  ambition,  of  the  impulse  to  do 
and  be  something  distinctive  in  the  world,  to  make 
the  most  and  best  of  ourselves  and  life.  It  is  also 
true  of  other  traits  illustrating  how  "out  of  the  heart 
are  the  issues  of  life." 

Every  one  of  the  ancient  civilizations  fell.  Ars 
man's  modern  attempts  to  domesticate  himself,  which 
we  call  the  civilization  of  to-day,  also  self-destructive, 
and  are  the  states  and  nations  now  playing  their  role 
on  the  stage  of  history  doomed  to  the  same  fate? 
What  is  true  progress,  and  is  man  really  making  any? 
With  all  our  ever  vaunted  advance  in  discoveries  and 
inventions,  arts  and  sciences,  are  we  really  better  men 
than  the  ancient  Hittites,  Babylonians,  Greeks,  Ro- 
mans, and  the  rest  whose  very  languages  are  dead 
and  whose  gods  only  scholars  know  of?  The  world 
was  never  so  populous,  but  the  future  belongs  not  to 
the  races  that  are  most  fecund  but  to  those  which 
add  to  this  a  selective  environment  that  conserves  the 
best  and  eliminates  the  worst  or  least  fit  to  survive, 
so  that  quality  and  not  numbers  alone  holds  its  true 
place  as  a  cofactor.  The  philanthropy  and  thje  medi- 
cal arts  that  keep  the  unfit  alive  do  not  improve 
mankind. 

Now  what  is  the  one  disease  that  destroyed  the  old 
and  will  surely  be  the  death  of  our  civilization  if  we 
cannot  find  an  antidote  and  therapy  for  it?  It  is  over- 
individuation  and  its  resultant  egoism  and  selfish- 
ness. Here  animal  society  has  a  great  lesson  for  us. 

364 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

There  is  not  one  instinct  in  any  social  creature  from 
bees  and  ants  up  that  does  not  subordinate  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  group.  All  that  these  creatures  do  from 
birth  to  death  is  in  the  interests  of  the  community. 
No  individual  lives  unto  itself.  The  formicary  and 
the  bee  state  are  vastly  older  than  man  and  may  long 
survive  him  unchanged,  because  for  each  member  life 
is  service.  Hence  come  the  stable  forms  in  which 
these  gregarious  instincts  find  expression.  Each  so- 
cial animal  lives  true  to  its  type,  with  complete  self- 
subordination  and  self-sacrifice,  if  need  be,  to  it.  This 
is  true  of  packs  of  wolves,  of  wild  sheep,  horses,  cat- 
tle, elephants,  deer,  the  buffalo,  lemming,  pelican, 
seals,  all  creatures  that  build  social  nests,  migrate, 
and  mate  forays.  Here  we  see  the  consummation  of 
mutual  help. 

Man  alone  develops  consciousness  of  self,  and  in 
him  alone  this  has  grown  so  hypertrophied  that  it  has 
become  the  muse  of  his  philosophy,  and  one  school  of 
psychology  holds  that  there  is  nothing  else  in  Man- 
soul  worthy  of  its  attention.  The  ancient  Elohist 
Hebrew  seers  thought  this  a  fall,  from  which  Chris- 
tianity set  forth  a  plan  of  redemption,  which  Bud- 
dhism had  sought  to  do  in  another  way  before.  But 
both  plans  too  soon  became  the  one  insistent  on 
dogma  and  the  other  mechanized  in  objective  rites. 
These  two  seers,  one  for  the  East  and  one  for  the 
West,  saw  more  clearly  than  any  other  of  the  sons  of 
men  the  evil  and  its  menace,  and  suggested  a  cure  that 
brought  new  hope  to  the  world,  but  to  most  men  to- 

365 


MORALE 

day  they  are  voces  et  praeterea  nihil.  So  forgotten 
or  misunderstood  are  they  now  that  their  represen- 
tatives bring  almost  as  much  confusion  as  help,  and 
the  coarser  souls  among  them  only  pervert  and  mis- 
lead. If  we  cannot  resurrect  these  seers  from  their 
elaborate  entombments,  we  must  at  least  try  to  re- 
state the  psychokinetic  equivalents  of  their  insights 
in  modern  terms  and  with  the  utmost  clearness  and 
brevity. 

Man  has  two  natures,  one  aboriginal,  innate,  in- 
stinctive, and  unconscious,  so  that  there  slumber  in 
each  of  us  all  the  capacities  and  possibilities  of  the 
race  both  for  good  and  for  evil.  Everything  objective 
is  good  or  bad  as  it  strengthens  the  good  or  evil 
trends  within  us.  A  few  enemies  of  mankind  armed 
with  all  the  resources  of  modern  science  could  by 
united  effort  almost  depopulate  the  world  and  destroy 
our  civilization.  As  knowledge  has  augmented  man's 
power  over  Nature,  it  has  not  given  him  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  his  sense  of  responsibility.  The  edu- 
cation that  gives  only  knowledge  and  skill  is  incom- 
plete and  superficial  if  it  does  not  also  reach  the 
deeper  springs  of  character  and  disposition  and  in- 
crease the  will  to  help  and  serve  others,  instead  of  in- 
creasing, as  it  now  too  often  does,  only  the  selfish 
will  to  power.  Nothing  is  truly  learned  until  it  sinks 
so  deep  that  it  affects  heredity  and  would  give  to  our 
children,  even  if  born  after  we  were  dead,  some  pre- 
potency of  sound  over  unsound  tendencies.  Ability 
to  read,  write,  and  cipher,  to  excel  in  an  occupation 

366 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

or  a  line  of  culture,  no  matter  for  how  many  genera- 
tions these  facilities  have  been  acquired,  gives  to  off- 
spring little  or  no  inborn  power  in  these  directions; 
but  diathesis,  disposition,  and  character,  as  all  studies 
of  heredity  indicate,  do  more  or  less  strongly  tend  to 
be  transmitted,  and  there  is  at  least  a  point  here 
which  Weismannism  cannot  and  must  not  pass,  al- 
though we  may  not  yet  be  able  to  segregate  unit  char- 
acters. Something  of  this  kind  must  be  true  or  else 
all  progress  is  only  a  Sisyphus  labor  to  be  eternally 
begun  and  never  securely  achieved. 

Here  and  here  alone  I  would  carry  pragmatism  to 
its  extremest  limits,  and  am  almost  ready  to  say  that 
I  would  replace,  if  I  could,  any  or  all  of  my  most  cher- 
ished theoretical  beliefs  by  almost  any  others,  and 
would  teach  them  to  my  children  if  they  helped  us 
toward  the  life  of  service  illustrated  by  animal  so- 
cieties, and  checked  the  devastating  momentum  of 
hyperindividuation  and  greed  which  has  destroyed 
every  great  state  in  the  past  and  which  will  annihilate 
our  own  civilization  if  we  cannot  check  it.  Just  now, 
faster  than  ever  before,  men,  parties,  and  interests, 
seem  to  be  losing  the  very  power  of  compromise,  arbi- 
tration, conciliation,  the  readiness!  to  submit  conflict- 
ing claims  to  fair  and  impartial  trbunals.  In  the  ebb 
of  the  great  wave  of  altruism  and  service  which  char- 
acterized the  war  we  have  now  entered  a  period  when 
selfishness  is  rampant  and  to  an  almost  mad  and  or- 
giastic degree,  until  it  seems  as  if  nothing  but  a  new 
religion  could  save  us  from  disintegration. 

367 


MORALE 

Hence,  if  we  can  no  longer  expect  any  new  advent 
of  any  ab  extra  deity,  our  only  hope  is  to  appeal  to 
the  great  heart  and  soul  of  the  race  out  of  which  came 
all  bibles,  gods,  and  every  human  institution,  and 
which  has  hitherto  met  all  great  emergencies  and 
answered  all  the  deep  prayers,  wishes,  and  aspira- 
tions that  have  ever  been  answered  in  the  past,  and 
exhort  all  men  everywhere  to  put  and  keep  themselves 
at  their  best  and  not  to  act  or  resolve  from  low  con- 
dition. If  Mansoul  is  not  now  pregnant  with  some 
great  new  departure  and  does  not  therefore  need  the 
care  which  the  world  everywhere  gives  to  those  near- 
ing  parturition,  then  we  must  decline  and  fall.  As 
morale  is  the  heart  of  an  army,  so  it  alone  can  hearten 
us  to  withstand  the  most  subtle  and  inveterate  foe  of 
all  civilizations,  viz.,  the  degeneration  that  comes 
from  selfishness. 

Bolshevism  is  only  Czarism  democratized.  The 
lower  always  follow  and  catch  the  spirit  of  the  up- 
per classes  in  the  love  and  use  of  leisure  and  idleness, 
birth  control,  the  love  of  luxury,  display,  fashions, 
forms  of  amusement,  attitudes  towards  religion,  lust 
for  power — all  these  and  more  seep  down  from  patri- 
cians to  plebs.  All  the  poor  are  or  would  fain  be  like 
the  rich,  and  one  chief  ingredient  of  their  enmity  to- 
ward them  is  envy.  Thus  all  classes  are  more  intent 
on  getting  than  on  doing  good.  Eac'h  would  be  some 
kind  of  superman  if  he  could,  and  his  soul  is  turbu- 
lent with  the  spirit  of  unrest  and  even  revolt  because 
he  cannot  realize  his  own  overweaning  ambitions  for 

368 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

Mmself.  Thus  until  the  heart  of  man  normally  does 
experience  a  transforming  new  birth  to  altruism, 
there  can  never  be  a  true  and  lasting  kingdom  of 
God,  that  is  of  man.  Woman  is  thought  to  be  by  na- 
ture less  selfish.  Her  day  has  come,  and  we  really 
ought  to  look  to  her  for  help.  But  she  is  timid  from 
her  long  subjection  and  cannot  see  and  has  not  the 
courage  to  seize  the  cue  or  opportunity;  and,  more- 
over, she  is  not  herself  untainted  by  the  hyperindi- 
viduation  of  our  age.  Thus  the  old  hopes  are  fading 
one  by  one,  the  old  gods  are  dead  or  dying,  and  their 
religions  are  in  a  deepening  twilight.  Nothing  or  no 
one  can  save  us  but  ourselves.  Must  history  forever 
repeat  itself,  nations  and  races  rising  one  after  an- 
other, coming  to  power  and  then  declining  and  dying, 
always  of  the  same  malady,  because  man  can  find 
and  apply  no  remedy  to  it  that  will  make  society  im- 
mortal as  it  should  be,  like  those  instinct  has  evolved? 
Christianity  could  have  done  it,  perhaps,  if  it  had 
been  understood  and  not  become  crassified  by  dogma 
and  rites,  overinstitutionalized  by  organization,  and 
supernaturalized.  It  saw  the  vanity  of  riches,  power, 
and  place,  and  brought  an  antidote  for  mundane  sel- 
fishness; but  it  appealed  to  transcendental  satisfac- 
tions and  would  pay  for  self-effacement  in  this  world 
by  individual  glorification  in  another,  faith  in  which 
is  now  ineffective  if  not  moribund.  Now  we  want  to 
be  shown  that  altruism  pays  in  this  life,  and  it  will  be 
long  before  we  can  show  the  world  that  it  is  here  and 
now  good  policy.  All  the  proof  that  it  is  so  that  the 

369 


MORALE 

hedonistic  calculus  of  our  ethics  has  yet  been  able  to 
set  forth  seems  only  flimsy  and  tenuous  casuistry  to 
the  man  on  the  street. 

Thus,  again,  I  say  the  one  clear  call  of  the  Zeitgeist 
to  us  just  now  is  to  keep  ourselves  in  the  attitude  of 
expectation,  of  watchful  waiting.  This  is  not  unlike 
the  cry  of  the  Baptist  to  "prepare  the  way,"  to  watch 
and  await  some  new  dispensation  or  to  be  always 
ready,  as  Jesus  would  have  His  disciples  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  Man.  This  means  in  modern  terms 
simply  to  get  and  stay  at  the  very  top  of  our  condi- 
tion, confident  that  out  of  this  state  only  can  salva- 
tion come.  Every  great  hope  has  been  born  of  a  great 
despair,  as  the  blackest  darkness  precedes  dawn.  If 
all  consciousness  is  remedial,  the  new  world  con- 
sciousness now  developing  may  also  prove  to  be  so. 
Even  love,  we  are  now  told,  always  passes  through  a 
precocious  stage  when  it  is  focused,  only  on  self,  and 
it  is  arrested  if  it  does  not  with  growth  turn  away 
from  self  to  focus  on  some  other  object.  Must  altru- 
ism forever  suffer  arrest  in  the  stage  of  precocious  de- 
mentia that  has  caused  nations  in  the  past  to  decay 
because  checked  at  the  stage  of  self-love?  Love  alone 
unselfs.  Man  is  profoundly  gregarious  and  can  yet 
devote  himself  to  causes,  parties,  and  countless  social 
and  industrial  groups.  Can  this  self-subordination 
not  find  a  larger  object  in  service  of  mankind  itself? 
Man  has  loved,  wealth  because  it  gives  power ;  but  this 
power  is,  after  all,  only  vulgar  and  material,  only  a 
symbol  of  a  higher  moral  power.  We  use  wealth  self- 

370 


MORALE  AND  RELIGION 

ishly,  but  its  philanthropic  uses  give  far  higher  sat- 
isfaction. Can  we  not  sometime  learn  not  only  how 
to  acquire  but  how  to  put  it  to  its  highest  uses  and 
experience  the  incomparable  joy  that  comes  from  a 
giving  that  is  not  only  great  but  wise?  Perhaps  some 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  of  the  future  may  lead  some 
such  apostolate  for  the  wealthy  and  make  them  some- 
time, as  Carnegie  said,  "ashamed  to  die  rich."  Many 
of  our  academic  and  some  non-academic  sociologists 
may  be  Socratic  midwives  of  a  new  and  better  future. 
There  seems  now  to  be  a  great  hope  for  a  sounder 
morale  in  them.  There  are  clergymen  who  have 
broken  with  the  traditions  of  their  theological  train- 
ing and  found  ways  of  evading  the  limitations  of  their 
office,  and  taught  the  simple  gospel  of  right  between 
man  and  man  now  and  here.  There  are  social  and  up- 
lift workers  who  perhaps  live  among  the  poor,  and 
many  teachers  who  have  by  their  lives  and  their  pre- 
cepts touched  the  hearts  of  those  they  influence  with 
this  only  true  gospel  of  service. 

Thus,  although  Pandora  has  opened  her  old  box 
and  again  let  loose  all  of  its  evils  upon  mankind,  we 
find  a  new  hope  at  the  bottom,  viz.,  personal,  civic, 
social,  industrial,  and  religious  morale,  the  acme  of 
healthfulness  of  body  and  soul.  Like  the  appeal  from 
Philip  drunk  to  Philip  sober  our  appeal  is  now  from 
Mansoul  sick  to  Mansoul  well,  and  we  must  and  will 
believe  that  this  appeal  will  be  heard. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Psychology  and  History:  Some  Reasons  for  Predicting  Their  More 
Active  Cooperation  in  the  Future.  By  Harry  B.  Barnes.  Amer. 
Jour.  Psy.,  Oct.,  1919. 

This  article  gives  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  various  modern  writers 
who  have  interpreted  history  from  a  psychological,  and  more  specifi- 
cally from  a  psychanalytic  point  of  view. 

It  might  be  supplemented  by  G.  P.  Gooch :  History  and  Hta- 
torians  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  (Lond.,  Longmans,  1913)  ;  E.  D. 
Adams:  The  Power  of  Ideals  in  American  History  (New  Haven, 
Yale  TT.  Press,  1913)  ;  J.  H.  Robinson:  The  New  History  (N.  Y.), 
Macmillan,  1912)  ;  J.  F.  Shotwell :  The  Interpretation  of  History 
(Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  1912-13,  pp.  692  et  seq.) 

France  and  the  Next  War.  A  French  View  of  Modern  War.  By 
Com.  J.  Colin.  Lond.,  Hodder  and  Stoughton,  1914.  316  pp. 

Like  nearly  all  the  works  of  French  writers  everything  here 
centers  from  the  battle  itself.  This  is  a  careful  psychological  study, 
especially  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  stressing  morale  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  battle. 

Industrial  Good-Will:  The  Human  Side  of  the  Labor  Problem.  By 
J.  R.  Commons.  N.  Y.,  McGraw-Hill,  1919.  213  pp. 

In  place  of  the  old  commodity  theory  determined  solely  by  de- 
mand and  supply,  and  the  newer  machinery  theory  which  is  supported 
by  the  efficiency  movement,  the  writer  pleads  for  a  new  good-will 
method  which  shall  recognize  human  instincts  and  desires,  which  if 
thwarted  always  make  trouble.  We  have  come  out  of  the  war  the 
greatest  industrial  power  in  the  world,  and  where  other  natious 
are  bankrupt  we  are  creditors.  But  we  shall  throw  away  all  of  these 
advantages  if  we  cannot  establish  industrial  good-will. 

Les  Etudes  sur  le  Combat.    By  Ardant  Du  Picq.     Paris,  Hachette, 

1880. 

Until  Marshal  Foch's  book  appeared,  this  has  been  probably  the 
most  characteristic  presentation  of  the  psychology  of  the  actual  face- 
to-face  combat,  which  the  French  make  central  in  their  war  theory 
and  teaching,  just  as  the  German  works  tend  to  center  about  ma- 
neuvers and  tactics. 

373 


MORALE 

Psychology  of  War.    By  LeRoy  Eltinge.    Fort  Leavenworth,  Kans., 
Press  of  the  Army  Service  Schools,  1918.    126  pp. 
This  is  a  very  effective  book  and  widely  read  by  officers,  based 
to  some  extent  on  Le  Bon's  principles.    The  psychology  of  the  crowd 
and  mass  is  discussed,  and  there  are  excellent  chapters  on  panic  in 
war,  and  on  the  psychology  of  infantry  combat     In  an  appendix  he 
discusses  the  causes  of  war,  which  bottom  on  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation and  economic  pressure,  and  this,  to  the  author,  shows  that  war 
is  inevitable. 

The  Principles  of  War.    By  General  Ferdinand  Foch.    Tr.  by  J.  de 

MorinnL     N.  Y.,  1918.    372  pp. 

Here  we  have  the  principles  of  Foch  the  Teacher  which  he  has 
lived  up  to.  The  whole  work  is  sown  with  references  to  morale, 
which  is  the  force  that  most  needs  to  be  economized,  that  is  regu- 
lated by  intellectual  discipline,  that  is  affected  by  strategy.  The 
last  three  chapters  culminate,  like  all  French  works,  in  the  battle 
itself. 

Morale.     By  Harold  Goddard.     New  York,  G.  H.  Doran  Co.,  1918. 

118  pp. 

This  is  largely  a  reprint  of  articles  but  a  most  stimulating  boob 
for  soldiers.  The  preliminary  morales  are  health,  gregariousness, 
and  humor.  The  major  are  pugnacity,  adventure,  work,  communal 
labor,  justice;  while  the  composite  morales  include,  pride,  victory, 
sport,  fatalism,  and  reason.  Then  comes  the  supreme  morale,  which 
is  that  of  creation.  Sex  and  Morale  and  Morale  and  Reconstruction, 
are  also  included. 

Morals  and  Morale.  By  Luther  H.  Gulick,  M.  D.,  with  an  Introduc- 
tion by  Raymond  B.  Fosdick.  Association  Press,  1919.  192  pp. 
This  book  was  practically  finished  before  the  author's  death,  and 
has  been  brought  down  to  date  by  the  most  competent  of  all  au- 
thorities. Dr.  Gulick  studied  the  sex  problem  at  the  front,  and  the 
last  half  of  his  book  is  made  up  of  appendices,  starting  with  the 
messages  of  President  Wilson  and  Secretary  Baker  and  containing 
the  important  documents  which  show  just  what  our  government  has 
done  for  sex  in  the  army.  This  is  the  best  and  most  comprehensive 
work  on  the  subject 

The  Metaphysical  Theory  of  the  State.    By  L.  T.  Hobhouse.    N.  Y., 

Macmillan,  1918.    156  pp. 

This  is  an  admirable  statement  of  the  Hegelian  theory  of  the 
state  and  its  various  ramifications  with  a  criticism  of  this  view, 
which  the  author  thinks  contributed  so  much  to  the  Prussian  ideal  of 
the  state  as  absolute.  One  should  read  in  this  connection  H.  J.  Laski's 
Authority  in  the  Modern  State  (New  Haven,  Yale  U.  Press,  1919). 
See,  too,  W.  Willoughby's  Prussian  Political  Philosophy  (N.  Y., 
Appleton,  1918)  ;  Ernest  Parker:  Political  Thought  in  England  from 
Herbert  Spencer  to  the  Present  Day.  (Lond.,  Williams,  1915). 

Morale  and  Its  Enemies.    By  William  Ernest  Hocking.   New  Haven, 

Yale  Univ.  Press,  1918.    200  pp. 

The  author  was  at  the  front  for  a  short  time  during  the  summer 
of  1917.  The  substance  of  this  book  was  given  in  lecture  courses. 
The  first  part  treats  of  the  Foundations  of  Morale,  and  includes 
chapters  on  why  morale  counts  and  how  much,  what  is  good  morale, 
its  foundations — instinct  and  feelings,  knowledge  and  belief,  realizing 

374 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

the  war,  enmity,  the  purposes  ot  Potsdam,  the  mote  in  our  own  eye, 
and  state  blindness.  The  second  part  deals  with  the  Morale  of  the 
Fighting  Man.  Here  are  chapters  on  the  psychology  of  the  soldier, 
discipline,  will,  practice,  command,  morale-building  forces,  fear  and 
its  control,  war  and  women,  and  the  longer  strains  of  war. 
Le  Courage.  By  Louis  Huot  and  Paul  Voivenel.  Paris,  Alcan,  1917. 

358  pp. 

This  is  the  broadest  and  most  comprehensive  treatise  on  the  sub- 
ject, its  history,  literature,  manifestations  in  war  and  its  psychology, 
and  sketches  with  great  detail  the  inner  history  of  a  great  conflict, 
its  beginning,  acme,  and  end.  At  the  apex  of  his  excitement  the 
fighter's  state  is  masochistic  and  he  absolutely  loses  fear.  There  are 
other  analogies  between  the  erethism  of  war  and  that  of  sex.  The 
author's  main  thesis  is  that  courage  is  the  triumph  of  the  instinct  of 
social  over  individual  preservation.  It  abounds  in  very  acute  ob- 
servations. 

Some  of  the  voluminous  literature  on  Ideal  States  should  be  in- 
teresting reading  to-day,  e.  g.,  C.  W.  Wooldridge :  Perfecting  the  Earth 
(Cleveland,  Utopia  Publ.  Co.,  1902)  ;  A.  P.  Russell:  Sub  Coleum:  The 
Sky-Built  Human  World  (Bost.,  Houghton,  1893)  ;  R.  M.  Chapman: 
Vision  of  the  Future  (N.  Y.,  Metropolitan  Press,  1916)  ;  O.  Gregory: 
Meccania,  the  Super-State  (Lond.,  1918)  ;  E.  Pataud  and  E.  Pouget : 
Syndicalism  and  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth  (Oxford,  New  In- 
ternational Publ.  Co.,  1913)  ;  W.  D.  Howells :  Through  the  Eye  of  the 
'Needle  (N.  Y.,  Harper,  1907);  H.  G.  Schuette:  Athonia  or  The 
Original  Four  Hundred  (Manitowoc,  Wis.,  Lakeside,  1911)  ;  M.  I. 
Swift:  The  Horroboos  (N.  Y.,  Liberty  Press,  1911)  ;  R.  A.  Cram: 
Walled  Towns  (Bost.,  Marshall,  Jones,  1919);  W.  O.  Henry:  Equi- 
tania  (Omaha,  Klopp,  1914)  ;  H.  G.  Wells:  A  Modern  Utopia  (N. 
Y.,  Scribner,  1907);  J.  Miller:  The  Making  of  the  City  Beautiful 
(1894);  W.  Morris:  News  from  Nowhere  (N.  Y.,  Longmans);  I. 
Donnelly:  Atlantis  (N.  Y.,  Harper,  1882);  E.  Bellamy:  Looking 
Backward  (Bost,  Houghton,  1898). 

On  Internationalism,  as  on  all  these  topics,  there  is  a  vast  litera- 
ture from  which  it  seems  invidious  to  seek  out  a  few.  We  mention, 
however,  W.  P.  Merrill:  Christian  Internationalism  (N.  Y.,  Mac- 
millan,  1919)  ;  F.  B.  Sayre :  Experiments  in  International  Adminis- 
tration (N.  Y.,  Harper,  1919)  ;  F.  C.  Howe :  The  Only  Possible 
Peace  (N.  Y.,  Scribner,  1919)  ;  R.  Muir:  Nationalism  and  Interna- 
tionalism (Lond.,  Constable,  1916)  ;  Rabindranath  Tagore :  National- 
ism (N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1917). 
The  Physical  Basis  of  Society.  By  Carl  Kelsey.  N.  Y.,  Appleton, 

1916.    406  pp. 

See  also   World  Power  and  Evolution.     By  Ellsworth  Hunting- 
ton.     New  Haven,  Yale  U.  Press,  1919.    287  pp. 
The  Economic  Consequences  of  the  Peace.    By  J.  M.  Keynes.    N.  Y., 

Macmillan,  1920.    298  pp. 

This  much-read  book  disparages  the  Treaty  as  neglecting  to  deal 
•with  the  very  subtle  economic  questions  upon  the  exact  balance  of 
which  peace  and  happiness  are  dependent  in  Europe.  President  Wil- 
son was  an  idealist  insisting  only  upon  his  moral  principles  and  quite 
unable  to  cope  with  the  subtleties  of  European  diplomacy.  America 
should  now  cancel  all  debts  of  foreign  countries  to  it  and  should  lead 
in  raising  an  enormous  loan,  which  would  be  paid  to  develop  European 
industries.  The  Treaty  must  be  revised  for  Germany  cannot  possibly 
meet  all  the  conditions.  Keynos  modernizes  Norman  Angell's  "The 
Great  Illusion"  (1910)  which  insisted  that  the  world  was  governed 

375 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

not  by  political  or  military  but  by  economic  forces,  and  that  no  na- 
tion could  ever  afford  to  destroy  the  industry  of  another.    This,  Keynes 
says,  the  Treaty  does  for  Germany. 
Hier  et  Demain.    By  Gustave  Le  Bon.    Paris,  Alcan,  1918.    252  pp. 

In  this  work  the  author  applies  his  psychology  of  peoples  and  the 
crowd  to  war  before  and  during  battle,  and  seeks  to  give  a  practical 
application  to  his  view  that  the  force  of  the  army  is  the  force  of 
collectivity,  a  view  that  underlies  both  his  The  Psychology  of  Peoples 
(N.  Y.,  1912.  216  pp.)  and  his  Enlignments  Psychologiques  de  la 
Guerre  Europeenne  (Paris,  1916,  354  pp.) 

fhe  Psychology  of  Courage.   By  Herbert  Gardner  Lord.  Boston,  John 
W.  Luce,  1918.     164  pp. 

The  author  is  a  professor  at  Columbia  University.  His  book 
deals  with  mechanism  in  man,  the  nature  of  courage,  its  simpler 
and  lower  forms,  acquired  and  complex  mechanism  in  its  higher 
forms,  courage  of  differing  patriotisms,  its  ultimate  foundations, 
training — general  and  special,  restoration  of  courage  when  lost, 
shell-shock,  and  an  epilogue  on  morale. 

37he  Psychology  of  War.    By  John  T.   MacCurdy.    London,    Heine- 
mann,  1917.     68  pp. 

This  treats  chiefly  of  primitive  instincts  and  gregariousness  and 
its  correlation  with  primitive  instincts.  The  author  has  made  very 
important  contributions  in  the  base  hospitals  to  the  knowledge  and 
treatment  of  shell  shock. 

The  Biology  of  War.  By  G.  F.  Nicolai.   New  York,  The  Century  Co., 
1918.    553  pp. 

The  author  of  this  book,  which  is  one  of  the  very  best  the  war 
haa  produced,  was  formerly  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Berlin,  and  suffered  bitter  persecution  at  the  hand  of  the 
German  government  for  printing  his  valuable  work.  Part  I  discusses 
the  war  instinct,  war  and  the  struggle  for  life,  selection  by  means  of 
war,  the  chosen  people,  how  war  is  metamorphosed  and  the  army 
transformed,  the  roots  of  patriotism,  its  different  species,  unjusti- 
fiable chauvinism,  the  legitimate  individualism  of  nations,  and  al- 
truism. Part  II  tells  how  war  may  be  abolished,  describes  the  evo- 
lution of  the  idea  of  the  world  as  an  organism  and  how  this  concep- 
tion has  been  voiced,  or  rather  how  unsuccessful  have  been  the  at- 
tempts to  express  it,  discusses  the  transformations  of  human  judg- 
ment, and  finally  war  and  religion. 

The  author  starts  with  a  drastic  arraignment  of  the  ninety- 
three  German  professors  who  signed  the  famous  German  Manifesto 
of  October,  1914,  which  prompted  his  book.  He  shows  remarkable 
familiarity  with  the  history  of  war,  but  the  chief  thesis  with 
which  his  book  concludes  is  that  God  is  humanity,  theology  is  an- 
thropology, and  in  this  way  he  redefines  in  modern  form  the  con- 
ception first  set  forth  by  Feuerbach  that  all  modern  conceptions  of 
God  are  really  those  of  humanity  ejected  and  projected  upon  the 
clouds.  God  is  Man  and  therefore  brotherhood  and  peace  must  evict 
•war. 

Motives  in  Economic  Life  (Amer.  Econ.  Rev.  Sup.,  Mar.,  1918)  ;  The 
I.  W.  W.    (Atlan.,  Nov.,  1917)  ;  The  Technique  of  American  In- 
dustry  (Atlan.,  Jan.,  1920).     By  Carleton  Parker. 
See  also  the  work  of  his  pupil,  Ordway  Tead :    Instincts  in  In- 
dustry— A    Study    of    Working-Class   Psychology    (Bost.,    Hough  ton, 
1918).     See,  too,  in  the  same  spirit,  P.  S.  Grant:    Fair  Play  for  the 
Workers    (N.  Y.,  Moffat,  Yard,  1919)  ;   A.   Henderson:   The  Aims  of 
Labor   (N.  j,,  Huebscb,  1919)  ;    Boyd  Fisher:     Industrial    Loyalty 

376 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


(Lond.,  Routledge,  1918)  ;  W.  MacKenzie  King:  Industry  and  Hu- 
manity (Bost.,  Houghton,  1918)  ;  R.  W.  Bruere:  Labor  and  the  New 
Nationalism  (N.  Y.,  Harper,  1919)  ;  M.  B.  Reckitt  and  C.  E.  Bec- 
hofer:  The  Meaning  of  National  Guilds  (Lond.,  Palmer,  1918)  ;  F. 
C.  Howe:  The  Land  and  the  Soldier  (N.  Y.,  Scribner,  1919). 
Le  Comlat.  By  General  Fercin.  Paris,  Alcan,  1911  301  pp. 

This  book  begins  and  focuses  in  the  combat  itself  but  describes 
the  different  kinds  of  fear  m  the  various  arms  of  the  service,  and  in 
the  last  chapter  moral  forces,  both  material  and  intellectual,  to  the 
advantage  of  the  latter. 
The  Psychology  of  Handling  Men  in  the  Army.    By  Joseph  Peterson, 

M.  D.,  and  Quentin  J.  David.     Minneapolis,  The  Perine  Book 

Co.    146  pp. 

The  junior  author  has  had  ranch  experience,  and  the  book  treats 
mainly    of    competition,    play,    team-play,    leadership,    principles    of 
learning,  health,  discipline,  and  loyalty.    The  book  was  submitted  to 
the  War  Department  which  authorized  its  publication. 
Making    a    Soldier.      By    Major-General  William  A.  Pew.    Boston. 

Richard  G.  Badger,  1917.    220  pp. 

This  book  consists  of  lectures  given  informally  at  the  monthly 
conferences  of  the  Training  School  of  the  Massachusetts  National 
Guard.  The  chief  topics  treated  are  discipline,  knowledge  and  ideals, 
interest,  the  struggle,  habits,  instincts,  pugnacity,  education,  play, 
self-assertion  and  self-abasement,  gregariousness  and  fear,  prepared- 
ness and  the  militia.  This  is  a  very  vigorous,  stimulating,  and  prac- 
tical book. 
War  According  to  Clausewitz.  Edited,  with  commentary,  by  Major- 

General  T.  D.  Pilcher.    London,  Cassell  and  Co.,  1918.    257  pp. 

This  is  a  rather  free  translation  of  the  first  and  most  important 
work  of  Clausewitz,  who  died  in  1831.  It  discusses  the  nature  and 
theory  of  war,  strategy  in  general,  and  finally  the  combat  itself.  It 
is  a  far  broader  work  than  Bernhardi,  and  while  it  stresses  greatly 
what  might  be  called  the  mechanics  of  war,  it  lays  far  more  emphasis 
on  morale  than  do  most  recent  German  writers. 

Psychiatric  de  Guerre,  Etude  Clinique.  By  A.  Porot  and  A.  Hesnard. 

Paris,  Alcan,  1919.    315  pp. 

This  is  a  comprehensive  work  treating  of  etiological  conditions, 
describing  predispositions  mobilized  by  the  war,  and  with  interesting 
characterizations  of  psychic  differences  and  of  temperament  and  re- 
sponses to  cure  by  the  different  races  engaged  in  the  war.  The  clinical 
section  describing  the  psychopathic  war  syndromes  is  comprehensive 
and  judiciously  proportionate.  The  evolutionary  forms  of  the  chief 
psychoses  and,  lastly,  cure  are  discussed  in  a  very  comprehensive  way. 

The  New  Social  Order.    By  H.  F.  Ward.    N.  T.,  Macmillan,  1919. 

364pp. 

See  also  E.  W.  Burgess :  Function  of  Socialisation  in  Social 
Evolution  (Chic.  U.  Press,  1916)  ;  Bertrand  Russell :  Proposed  Roads 
to  Freedom — Socialism,  Anarchism,  and  Syndicalism  (N.  Y.,  Holt, 
1919);  J.  Mackaye :  Americanized  Socialism:  A  Yankee  View  of 
Capitalism  (N.  Y.,  Boni  &  Liveright,  1919)  ;  W.  S.  Myers:  Social- 
ism and  American  Ideals  (Princeton  U.  Press,  1919)  ;  Joseph  Huss- 
lein,  S.  J. :  The  World  Problem:  Capital,  Labor  and  the  Church  (N. 
Y.,  Kennedy,  1919)  ;  John  Leitch :  Man  to  Man  (N.  Y.,  Forbes,  1919). 

377 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Just  now  the  economic  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  few  as  po- 
litical power  used  to  be,  and  there  must  be  a  new  distribution  of  the 
former  for  more  complete  social  and  industrial  efficiency.  The  test 
of  all  institutions  is  what  they  do  for  the  people.  Personality  must 
not  be  sacrificed  to  property  as  it  now  is,  or  our  industrial  civilization 
will  devour  man.  Once  the  struggle  was  for  land ;  now  it  is  for 
capital.  Property  must  be  used  for  peace  and  not  for  power.  In  a 
word,  there  must  be  democratic  control  of  industry,  a  revolution  of 
national  finance,  and  surplus  wealth  for  the  common  good.  The 
author  is  a  good  representative  of  state  socialism.  The  book  contains 
the  very  carefully  devised  program  of  the  British  Labor  party  and  an 
interesting  comparison  with  Russian  soviet. 

THE   END 

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